Plant Innate Immunity

In our group we are interested in i) plant and fungal receptors for bacterial outer cell wall molecules, ii) the following signalling pathways in plants or fungi (genes, proteins, antimicrobial compounds etc.) and iii) the chemical structure and synthesis of some of these bacterial molecules.

 

 

Innate immunity is the first line of defence against invading microorganisms in vertebrates and the only line of defence in invertebrates and plants. The plant innate immune system recognises conserved microbe specific molecules, also referred to as Microbe-Associated Molecular Patterns (MAMPs), by Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs) (reviewed by Erbs & Newman, 2011).

 

Reference

Erbs, G. and Newman M-A (2011). The role of lipopolysaccharide and peptidoglycan two glycosylated bacterial microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) in plant innate immunity. Mol. Plant Pathol. DOI: 10.1111/j.1364-3703.2011.00730.x

 

Present Projects

• Perception of the bacterial Microbe-Associated Molecular Patterns (MAMPs), peptidoglycan and muropeptides, from pathogens Xanthomonas and Agrobacterium
• Perception and Signalling by Bacteria and Bacterial Microbe-Associated Molecular Patterns (MAMPs) in Plants and Fungi.
• Structures and functions of MAMPs

Funding and collaborations

We have a large network of national and international collaborators, and are financially supported by the Danish Research Council for Independent Research; Technology and Production Sciences (FTP), and by the Villum Foundation, a non-profit foundation created by Villum Kann Rasmussen, Denmark.