Speaker: Prof. Lionel Navarro

Research Director at CNRS & Group leader at the Institut de L'Ecole normale supérieure (IBENS)

Hosted by Prof. Brande Wulff

Join us in Building 2, Level 5, Room 5209

Abstract:

RNA silencing is an ancestral gene regulatory mechanism that plays a critical role in antiviral defense. This regulatory process controls several other biological processes, including resistance against phytopathogenic bacteria. Here, I will first present how small RNA-directed DNA methylation and active DNA demethylation transcriptionally regulate Arabidopsis immune-responsive genes during antibacterial defense. I will also report on the natural DNA methylation variation at active DNA demethylase targets and on its consequence on gene expression. In the second part of my talk, I will present recent findings demonstrating the occurrence of an interkingdom RNA silencing phenomenon implicating the trafficking of active small RNAs from plant cells towards bacterial cells. In particular, I will describe the plant extracellular small RNA species that are causal for this gene regulatory process.

About the speaker:

Institut de Biologie de l’École normale supérieure (IBENS), 75005 Paris, France.

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)

Université de recherche Paris, Sciences & Lettres (PSL), France