SIGNALING SALT STRESS TO THE CHROMATIN

Salinity is a major stress for plants and has a severe effect on agricultural yield worldwide. Plants respond to high salt conditions via complex mechanisms, including adjustment of gene expression. Protein kinases play a key role in modulating gene expression by phosphorylation of transcription factors or co-regulatory proteins. Recently, a role emerged for protein kinases of binding to promoters and coding regions in gene expression, but the significance of plant stress- signaling kinases on chromatin function remains elusive. In our recent work we discovered a salt stress-responsive protein kinase which is able to bind to chromatin-associated proteins such as histones and AtDEK3. AtDEK3 is a novel plant chromatin component which we identified as a regulator of chromatin accessibility and salt stress tolerance. In the proposed project we now aim to (I) identify the direct targets of the protein kinase at the chromatin, (II) analyze the interaction between the protein kinase and AtDEK3, (III) study the role of the kinase and AtDEK3 on gene expression in response to salt stress. To address these aims, we will combine molecular, genetic and biochemical techniques with physiological analyses in Arabidopsis thaliana, and we expect to gain novel insights into how salt stress signaling is linked to the chromatin-associated processes.

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