Angelique Broghammer: New type of receptor proteins that recognise carbohydrates
PhD defence, Friday 20 April 2012. Angelique Broghammer.
When legumes are cultivated in nitrogen-poor soil, they enter into symbiosis with bacteria and form nitrogen-fixing tubercles. Establishing this interaction requires both partners in the symbiosis to recognise each other, which happens via the exchange of signal molecules. This symbiosis can be established following recognition of the bacterial signal molecule with the right structure, whereas signal molecules secreted by non-compatible bacteria or pathogenic fungi are not recognised by the receptors.
Angelique Broghammer developed and applied biochemical methods to demonstrate a direct binding of the bacteria’s carbohydrate signal molecules to two receptor proteins purified from the plant.
The extracellular domains of the receptor proteins contain three protein modules (LysM effectors) that are also found in many bacterial and human proteins. The receptors belong to a class of receptor proteins that also exist in plants that do not enter into symbiosis with bacteria but, on the contrary, use the receptors to defend themselves against pathogenic signals. The established techniques can thus be used to determine how plants recognise and distinguish between pathogens and symbiotic carbohydrate signals.
Because carbohydrates act as signal molecules in virtually all organisms from bacteria to humans, there are potential application opportunities for the developed methods in many fields of research.
The PhD degree was completed at the Centre for Carbohydrate Recognition and Signalling (CARB), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Science and Technology, Aarhus University.
Time: Friday 20 April 2012 at 13.00
Place: Conference Room, Science Park, building 3131, room 303, Aarhus University
Title of dissertation: Expression and purification of Nod Factor receptor – initial characterisation of ligand binding
Contact information: Angelique Broghammer, anb@mb.au.dk
Members of the assessment committee:
Professor Allan Downie, Department of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK
Associate Professor Anja Thoe Fuglsang, Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, University of Copenhagen
Dr Esben Skipper Sørensen (chair), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Main supervisor:
Professor Jens Stougaard, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
The defence is public.
The dissertation is available for reading at the Graduate School of Science and Technology / GSST, Ny Munkegade 120, building 1521, room 112, 8000 Aarhus C.