1. Signal transduction in plants …introduction…
Michael Wrzaczek
Dept of Biosciences, Plant Biology
Viikki Plant Science Centre (ViPS)
University of Helsinki, Finland
Helsinki, August 18th, 2016

2. ...the process by which information is transferred from the
Signal transduction...
...the process by which information is transferred from the
site(s) of perception to the site(s) of response...
Leyser and Day (2016) Signal transduction. In: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants
Signal transduction refers to the transmission of a molecular
signal in a form of a chemical modification by recruitment
of protein complexes along a pathway that ultimately triggers
a biochemical event.

3. Plant cells constantly process external and internal information

4. Plant cells monitor a continuous, complex stream of information

5. Within cells – intracellular Anterograde and retrograde signaling
Signal transduction...
Within cells – intracellular
Anterograde and retrograde signaling
Stimulus
Vacuole
Mitochondria
Chloroplasts
Nucleus
Cytosol

6. Within cells – intracellular, but external stimulus
Signal transduction...
Within cells – intracellular, but external stimulus
Stimulus
Vacuole
Mitochondria
Chloroplasts
Nucleus
Cytosol

7. Between cells – intercellular Extracellular Symplastic
Signal transduction...
Between cells – intercellular
Extracellular
Symplastic
Between cells and environment
Stimulus
Signal containment
Spread

8. Difficult to separate inter- and intracellular signaling
Sevilem et al. (2013) Cell Adhesion & Migration 7: 27-32
Stahl & Faulkner (2016) Trends Plant Sci 21:

9. Signal transduction integrates development, photosynthesis
and environmental responses
Allahverdiyeva et al. (2015) New Phytologist 208(3):

10. Signal transduction integrates development, photosynthesis
and environmental responses
Allahverdiyeva et al. (2015) New Phytologist 208(3):

11. Few, if any, discrete signal transduction pathways exist in plants

12. Interactions between pathways allow signal integration

13. Thursday August 18
09.00 Michael Wrzaczek Introduction to signal transduction
10.00 Steven Spoel Transcription dynamics in plant immunity (Teaching lecture)
11.00 Moritz Nowack The Control of Programmed Cell Death in Plant Development (Teaching)
13.00 Mikael Brosché Transcriptional regulation - Negative regulation, more important than positive regulation?
14.00 Kristiina Himanen Regulated protein degradation in plant signaling
15.00 Michael Wrzaczek Post-translational modifications in signal transduction
16.00 Sachie Kimura Apoplastic ROS signaling and calcium

14. Transcriptional regulation and transcription factors
Lectures by
Steven Spoel
Mikael Brosché
Farnham (2009) Nature Rev Genet 10:

15. Programmed
Cell Death
Lecture by
Moritz Nowack

16. Post-translational modifications of proteins
Lectures by
Kristiina Himanen
Michael Wrzaczek

17. ROS signaling combines inter- and intracellular signaling
Stimuli (wounding, salinity, cold, heat, high light and flg22)
(e.g. Ca2+)
Lecture by
Sachie Kimura
Modified from:
Miller et al. (2009)Sci Signal 2(84):ra45
Dubiella et al. (2013) PNAS 110(21):8744

18. Friday August 19
09.30 Moritz Nowack Things to do Before You Die - The Preparation of Programmed Cell Death in Plant Development (Research lecture)
10.00 Cezary Waszczak Redox signaling
Steven Spoel Reversible oxidative protein modifications in plant immunity (Research lecture)
13.00 Julia Krasensky Protein Phosphorylation
14.00 Guido Durian Calcium signaling and kinases
15.00 Paula Mulo Retrograde signaling
16.00 Kaisa Nieminen Plant hormone signaling

19. ROS signaling combines inter- and intracellular signaling
Lectures by
Guido Durian
Cezary Waszczak
Wrzaczek et al. (2013) Curr Opin Plant Biol 16:

20. Post-translational modifications of proteins
Lectures by
Julia Krasensky
Guido Durian P

21. Organelle communication - retrograde signaling
Lecture by
Paula Mulo
Allahverdiyeva et al. (2015) New Phytologist 208(3):

22. Plant hormones
Lecture by
Kaisa Nieminen

23. Monday August 22
09.30 Duarte Figueiredo Signaling events during plant reproduction (Teaching)
10.30 Ari-Pekka Mähönen Signal transduction in root development
11.30 Duarte Figueiredo Auxin couples fertilization to endosperm development (Research lecture)
13.00 Saijaliisa Kangasjärvi Light signaling
14.00 Kirk Overmyer Balancing tradeoffs between growth and pathogen immunity by brassinosteroids
15.00 Jarkko Salojärvi Bioinformatic methods to study signal transduction

24. Root development Lecture by Ari Pekka Mähönen
Mähönen et al. (2014) Nature 515:

25. Signaling in plant reproduction
Lecture by
Duarte Figueiredo
Figueiredo & Köhler (2016) Curr Opin Plant Biol 29: 16–20

26. Light signaling Lecture by Saijaliisa Kangasjärvi
Allahverdiyeva et al. (2015) New Phytologist 208(3):

27. Growth and pathogens Lecture by Kirk Overmyer
De Bruyne et al. (2014) Mol Plant 7(6):

28. Bioinformatics to study signal transduction
Lecture by
Jarkko Salojärvi

29. Tuesday August 23 09.00 Student lectures
Aleksia Vaattovaara (Mentor Julia Krasensky) S-locus kinases and peptides
Chang Su (Mentor AP Mähönen) Auxin-mediated lateral root formation in Arabidopsis
Delfia Isabel Marcenaro Rodrigues (Mentor Kirk Overmyer) Chitin?
Eeva Marttinen (Mentor Kirk Overmyer) Chitin?
Kai Wang (Mentor Cezary Waszczak) Methods for identification of cysteine oxidative PTMs
Kerri Hunter (Mentor Mikael Brosché) Stomatal development and signaling
Lingping Zhu (Mentor AP Mähönen) Signaling in reproduction
Mukrimin Mukrimim (?)
Nashmin Ebrahimi (Mentor Michael Wrzaczek) ROS/RNS
Omid Mohammadi (?)
Riikka Mäkikä (?)
Sitaram Rajaraman (Mentor Kaisa Nieminen) Hormones
Yan Yan (Mentor Saijaliisa Kangasjärvi) Light signaling
Yusuf Khan (Mentor Jarkko Salojärvi) Bioinformatics

30. Presentations Length: 15 minutes (plus 5 minutes for discussion)
Can be supported by powerpoint slides
Evaluation criteria:
knowledge of the selected topic
connection to signal transduction
if relevant connection to topics presented in the course
ability to answer questions (from teachers and students)