From Epithelial Tissue Folding to Plant Cell Wall - Academy 4 Seminar Series #16 - IPMC - April 15th, 2024 noon

On the 15th of April 2025 at 12 pm (noon), in IPMC conference room, will take place the 16th session of the Academy 4 seminar series entitled "From epithelial tissue folding to plant cell wall".

PROGRAM

12:00 Talk 1

"Composite morphogenesis: how can a tissue fold and extend at the same time"

By Dr Matteo RAUZI
Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, INSERM, Institut de Biologie de VALROSE, NICE FRANCE
matteo.rauzi@univ-cotedazur.fr
ibv.unice.fr/research-team/rauzi/

Abstract:
During embryo development, epithelia can undergo different shape transformations. While these changes can be sequential, and thus driven by specific sequential cellular mechanisms, this is not always the case. A single tissue can undergo multiple simultaneous shape transformations resulting in a composite process. For instance, in vertebrates, during neurulation, the dorsal tissue folds forming the neural tube while elongating along the anterior-posterior axis separating the future head from the anus (Keller, 2002). This raises an important question: how can a tissue undergo multiple simultaneous shape transformations if each transformation is per se driven by different and functionally specific cellular mechanisms? In addition, which signaling pathways are controlling composite morphogenetic processes? We use the protostome Drosophila and the deuterostome sea urchin P. lividus embryo as model systems and focus on the process of simultaneous tissue folding and extension resulting in the formation of an epithelial tube at the onset of gastrulation. By using advanced multi-view light sheet microscopy coupled with infrared femtosecond laser manipulation, two-photon optogenetics and quantitative big data analysis, we aim to shed new light on evolutionary conserved signaling pathways, mechanisms and mechanics controlling and driving composite morphogenesis.

Biography:
After carrying out his studies at the Politecnico of Milan in Italy, Matteo Rauzi obtained a PhD degree from the University of Aix-Marseille, France. He then joined the EMBL Heidelberg in Germany for a postdoc supported by the EMBO-Marie Curie and HFSP Long-Term fellowships. Since 2016 he is group leader at the University Côte d’Azur in Nice, France. Matteo Rauzi is a recipient of the ATIP-Avenir and the HFSP Career Development Award and he is Research Director at the French National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS), where he studies Morphogenesis and mechanics of epithelial tissues. His main interests are about 1-Uncovering the fundamental cell working principles and the emerging supracellular mechanisms driving epithelial morphogenesis, 2-Unraveling the biomechanical force fields directing flow and change in shape of epithelial tissues and 3-Understanding how patterns of gene expression result in tissue shape transformations during embryo development

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12h30 Talk 2

"Plant Cell Wall Integrity Mechanisms: Growth Control and Oomycete Susceptibility"

By Dr Aurélien BOISSON-DERNIER
Institut SOPHIA AGROBIOTECH, INRAE PACA, BIOT FRANCE
aurelien.boisson-dernier@inrae.fr 
https://eng-institut-sophia-agrobiotech.paca.hub.inrae.fr/Teams/ipo/team-members/aurelien-boisson-dernier

Abstract: 

Plant cells have developed complex signaling pathways to coordinate their intracellular growth machinery with their extracellular cell wall, that shields them from the environment. These pathways, called cell wall integrity mechanisms, are governed in higher plants by receptor-like kinases, including FERONIA (FER) and MARIS (MRI) proteins¹. Interestingly, we have shown that such mechanisms discovered in the flowering model plant Arabidopsis thaliana are, at least in part, conserved in the early diverging land plant Marchantia polymorpha². Our recent multi-omic approach on knockdown mutants for Marchantia FER and MRI genes³, has revealed that the FER/MRI signalling module could possibly negatively regulate plant defences in particular against the parasitic oomycete Phytophthora palmivora⁴. Considering that parasitic pathogens can manipulate plant defence to infect their host and establish disease⁵, and cell wall mechanisms are central to plant development, we hypothesized that the FER-dependent pathways could constitute ideal targets for oomycetes to corrupt. To assess the impact of cell wall integrity mechanisms on the outcome of plant-Phytophthora interaction, we will present our AI-based macroscopic symptoms phenotyping pipeline as well as the microscopic and molecular characterization of the responses of cell wall integrity mutants in both M. polymorpha and A.  thaliana plant models. Interestingly, while in Marchantia, MpFER appears to be manipulated by Phytophthora to establish susceptibility, in Arabidopsis, AtFER and its signaling partners, clearly contribute positively to plant immunity. These results suggest that the role of FER during plant-pathogen interactions has been reshaped during land plant evolution. Dissecting the mechanisms underlying this reshaping could possibly reveal untapped resources for engineering disease resistance by loss of susceptibility⁵.

Keywords:
Plant-Oomycete Interactions, Plant cell wall integrity, Marchantia, Arabidopsis, Phytophthora, infection, receptor-like kinase, secreted peptides.

References:

¹ Franck CM, Westermann J, and Boisson-Dernier A (2018). Plant Malectin-Like Receptor Kinases: From Cell Wall Integrity to Immunity and Beyond. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 69:301-28. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-arplant-042817-040557

² Westermann J, Streubel S, Franck CM, Lentz R, Dolan L, and Boisson-Dernier A (2019). An Evolutionarily Conserved Receptor-like Kinases Signaling Module Controls Cell Wall Integrity During Tip-Growth. Curr Biol. 22:3899-3908.e3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.09.069

³ Jobe TO, Gaspar Litholdo Junior C, Stolze SC, Stephan L, Westermann J, Harzen A, Hülskamp M, Nakagami H, Boisson-Dernier A (2024). An Omics approach on Marchantia polymorpha single FERONIA and MARIS homologs confirms links between cell wall integrity and abscisic acid. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.26.625412

⁴ Carella P, Gogleva A, Hoey DJ, Bridgen AJ, Stolze SC, Nakagami H, Schornack S. (2019). Conserved Biochemical Defenses Underpin Host Responses to Oomycete Infection in an Early-Divergent Land Plant Lineage. Curr Biol. 29:2282-2294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.05.078

5 Koseoglou E, van der Wolf JM, Visser RGF, Bai Y. (2022) Susceptibility reversed: modified plant susceptibility genes for resistance to bacteria. Trends Plant Sci. 27:69-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2021.07.018

Biography:

Born in Paris (France), graduated in Toulouse (France), postdoctoral stay at the University of California, San Diego (USA) then ERC Marie Curie Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Zürich (Switzerland) before joining the University of Cologne (Germany) as an Independent Group Leader, Dr. Aurélien Boisson-Dernier is now an INRAE Research Director at Institut Sophia Agrobiotech) and holds an IDEX UCAJEDI Chair of Excellence at Université Côte d’Azur. He studies Genetics; plant molecular biology; cell wall integrity and susceptibility.
Dr. Aurélien Boisson-Dernier is passionate about the complexity of signaling pathways that the sessile plants have elaborated to grow and adapt to their ever-changing environment. His research interests focus on the role of the plant cell wall - the rigid yet flexible shell that encased plant cells - during plant development and interaction with phytopathogens. He leads an interdisciplinary project that combines molecular and cell biology, genetics, evolutionary insight, and biochemistry to comprehend how parasitic pathogens subvert plant cell walls signaling mechanisms to establish disease.

13h: Discussion and buffet hosted by the Academy 4

ORGANIZERS: 

Academy of Excellence 4 "Complexity & Diversity of the Living Systems"


PARTNERS

Graduate School and Research LIFE - Life and Health Sciences
Graduate School and Research HEALTHY - Health Science Ecosystems
Academy of Excellence 5 "Human Societies, Ideas and Environments"
Institute NeuroMod - Cognitive Systems, Normality and Pathology of the Human Brain and Computational Neurosciences