Tim Jacob Lange (Goethe Universität Frankfurt)
Tim Jacob Lange's Master thesis was awarded with the Prize for the Best Plant Science Master Thesis, which was carried out at Goethe Universität Frankfurt in the year 2024 with the title:
Analysis of chitosan perception and bioactivity in Arabidopsis guard cells
Chitosan treatments can improve the plant’s resistance against drought and pathogens. This work aimed to find how the plant’s receptors can perceive the chitosan molecules on a molecular level.
Chitosans are chitin-related biopolymers found in the cell walls of some plant pathogens. The application of chitosans to plants can improve their drought stress tolerance and pathogen resistance. However, less is known about how the plant’s receptors can perceive the chitosan molecules on a molecular level to induce these protective properties.
In this study, nine different chitosans were tested for their ability to induce receptor dimerisations between the proposed chitosan receptors in thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana). To do so, a split-luciferase system was established in leaf protoplasts to follow along the chitosan-induced receptor dimerisations. Besides this, the different chitosans were tested on guard cells to define their bioactivities. With this, it was possible to explain the different bioactivities of the respective chitosans on the level of receptor interactions.
Hence, the results obtained here helped us understand how the plant’s receptors detect chitosans and can enable a more precise agricultural application according to the chitosan’s bioactivity.
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Tim Jacob Lange conducted this work at the institute of Molecular Biosciences in the working group of Prof. Dr. Maik Böhmer.