Secreted peptides and plant defense

Plant responses to biotic aggressions involve a great diversity of molecules including regulatory proteins and hormones. Among these actors, small secreted peptides may directly interact with pathogens (antimicrobial peptides) and/or act in signalling and cell-to-cell communication (phytocytokines). They are produced from non-functional precursors through a maturation process, making characterization difficult only on the basis of their gene sequences. Only a small fraction of the genes liable to encode these secreted peptides has been described and their impact and diversity appears to be seriously underestimated. Our aim is to explore this poorly-known gene space to characterize new secreted peptides involved in the perception of biotic stresses by plants and the regulation of their immune response. In this context, we discovered the family of phytocytokines SCOOP involved in the regulation of PTI and in various developmental processes in Brassicaceae. Ultimately, such peptides could be exploited in strategies that jointly optimize crop quality and resistance, opening up new opportunities for sustainable crop management.
Our researches mainly focus on Brassicaceae, Solanaceae and Rosaceae.

Funding : ANR (projects STRESS-PEPT, SUCSEED), INRAE (projects PHAACE, CRISPI), Univ. Angers (project SPADES), Pays de la Loire (project SOLPEP).

PhD : K. GULLY, M.-C. GUILLOU, L. TRAN VAN CANH

Collaborations : E. JAMET (LRSV, Univ. Toulouse), H. KELLER (ISA, INRAE Sophia-Antipolis), T. BALLIAU (PAPPSO, INRAE Orsay), N. D’AMELIO (Univ. Amiens), E. RUELLAND (Univ. Tech. Compiègne), E. VERGNE (ResPom, IRHS, Angers), J. VERDIER (SEED, IRHS Angers), P. GRAPPIN (FungiSem, IRHS Angers), M. BARRET (EmerSys, IRHS Angers), P. REYMOND (Univ. Lausanne), C. ZIPFEL (Univ. Zurich), A. SCHALLER (Univ. Hohenheim).

PI : Sébastien AUBOURG, Antoine PORQUIER