Structure/function relationships of chitosans in the induction of disease resistance in plants

Sven Basa (an associated third generation MCGS doctoral candidate working in the group of Prof. Moerschbacher, financially supported by the first Indo-German Public/Private Partnership “2+2” proposal CuChi-BCA) concentrates on elucidating structure/function relationships of chitosans in inducing plant disease resistance, supporting Ekaterina Gubaeva’s work on the cellular modes of action of chitosans in resistance induction, and Anne Vortkamp’s work on chitosan induced plant growth promotion. He is using different chemical, enzymatic, and chemo-enzymatic approaches to produce chitosan oligomers with defined degree of polymerization, degree of acetylation, and pattern of acetylation. These are being separated using different types of chromatography, and analysed using mass spectrometry, in collaboration with the group of Dr. Mormann. In collaboration with Ekaterina Gubaeva and Rebecca Melcher, he is currently assaying the biological activities of these chitosan oligomers towards different plant species, including rice, Medicago, and Arabidopsis. He will supply purified, well characterized chitosan oligomers to the transcriptomic analyses planned by Ekaterina Gubaeva and Anne Vortkamp on Arabidopsis and tomato, in collaboration with the group of Prof. Appa Rao.

Last update 06.05.2013

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