Seminar details TBA.
Upcoming PMB Seminars
For a schedule of all Plant & Microbial Biology events, seminars, and lectures visit our calendar.
Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature’s Toxins–from Spices to Vices
I will discuss what motivated me to write a new book on the origin story of toxins made by plants and other organisms that humans use (and sometimes abuse) and I will give an overview of this general audience book.
Transcriptional Governance: Mechanisms of Activation Control for the Auxin Response Factors
The Strader lab has been studying transcriptional output of the Auxin Response Factors, key regulators of plant growth and development, finding that protein condensation, nucleo-cytoplasmic partitioning, and activation domain activity can be modulated to integrate environmental and developmental cues into their transcriptional activity.
Past PMB Seminars
Arnon Lecture: Photoprotection of photosynthesis through cyclic electron transport in chloroplasts
Cyclic electron transport around photosystem-I, and the associated cyclic photophosphorylation process in chloroplasts is enabled by two pathways, which depend on the PGR5 protein and the chloroplast NADH dehydrogenase-like complex, respectively. When both pathways are defective, photosynthesis and plant growth are significantly impaired. The pgr5 mutant of Arabidopsis is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in light intensity, which can lead to photodamage of photosystem-I. The lecture will discuss the molecular mechanism of the photoprotection of photosystem-I, afforded by this cyclic electron transport process.
Swarming motility and the control of flagellar number in Bacillus subtilis
Bacterial flagellar are complex transenvelope nanomachines, and both flagella number per cell and insertion pattern vary by species. For example, Bacillus subtilis assembles ~15 flagella per cell when swimming in liquid and we found that flagellar number must double in order to swarm across solid surfaces. I will discuss how a small protein SwrA controls flagellar number by inducing oligomerization of a two-component response regulator protein necessary for gene activation. I will also show that SwrA levels are restricted by a Lon/adaptor system that is antagonized when cells are in conditions that promote swarming. The talk will cover flagellar biology and behavior, fundamentals of gene activation, regulatory proteolysis, and the cell-surface contact response.