Life Sciences Seminar: Decoding Plant Defense Signals: Oxylipins in Maize and Beyond
Life Sciences Seminar
Decoding Plant Defense Signals: Oxylipins in Maize and Beyond
Dr. Eli Borrego
Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences
Rochester Institute of Technology
Abstract:
Plants produce powerful chemical signals called oxylipins that orchestrate defense responses against insects, pathogens, and environmental stress. While these molecules are well-studied in humans as regulators of inflammation and immunity, their diverse roles in plants remain largely unexplored beyond the hormone jasmonic acid. Current projects in the Borrego Lab focus on decoding this chemical language to understand how plants use these chemical signals to coordinate defense responses and interact with other organisms. We will discuss how maize plants use oxylipins as alarm signals that travel through vascular tissues to warn distant leaves of insect attack, how fungi hijack these same signals during infection to manipulate plant defenses, and how the oxylipin pathway in Cannabis sativa connects to cannabinoid biosynthesis. Our interdisciplinary approach combines genomics, analytical chemistry, and molecular biology to understand these evolutionarily conserved defense networks and their responses to modern environmental challenges.
Intended Audience:
Beginners, undergraduates, graduates. Those with interest in the topic.
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