Plant-pathogen interactions and plant genetics
TalTech priority area
Research classification (Frascati)
Agriculture, forestry and fisheries 4.1
Head of the research group
Research group member
Doctoral students
Keyword
agricultural crop diseases
plant viruses
adaptation to climate change
RNA silencing suppressors
CRISPR/Cas9
Overview
We study genetic, molecular and cellular aspectsof plant-microbe interactions. We use predominantly different cereals as well as the modelplant Arabidopsis thaliana and various tobaccospecies as experimental host plant species. Weidentify and characterize, using next-generationsequencing techniques, viruses infecting cerealcrops in Estonia and neighbouring countries. Westudy especially sobemoviruses. In plant molecular biology, our object of research is ABCE genes.In 2021 we started the EEA project “EditGrass4Food” that aims to utilize transcriptomics andfunctional genomics to increase sustainabilityin agriculture through improvement of perennial ryegrass with better adaptation to frostand drought for current and future climates.The project is developed in cooperation with the University of Latvia (as promoter), NorwegianUniversity of Life Sciences and Lithuanian Agriculture and Forestry Sciences Center.Thanks to the Estonian-French Parrot programme, we are studying the emergence anddivergence of plant viruses on cereals, basedon sobemoviruses, together with the Institut deRecherche pour le Développement (Montpellier).We started coordinating the EUPHRESCOproject entitled “Diagnosis and epidemiology ofviruses infecting cereal crops” to create an international research network of scientists interested in mapping the virus spread and improvement of the diagnostics. Currently, there are 19international partners from different countries.
Related projects
Related department
- Guarino, F., Cicatelli, A., Castiglione, S., Agius, D. R., Orhun, G. E., Fragkostefanakis, S., Leclercq, J., Dobranszki, J., Sõmera, M., Sarmiento, C., et al. An epigenetic alphabet of crop adaptation to climate change : review article // Frontiers in Genetics (2022) vol. 13, art. 818727.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2022.818727 - Sõmera, M., Massart, S., Tamisier, L., Sooväli, P., Sathees, K., Kvarnheden, A. A survey using high-throughput sequencing suggests that the diversity of cereal and barley yellow dwarf viruses is underestimated // Frontiers in microbiology (2021) Vol. 12, art. 673218.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.673218 - Sarmiento, C., Sõmera, M., Truve, E. Solemoviruses (Solemoviridae) // Encyclopedia of Virology, 4th edition. Oxford : Academic Press, 2021. p. 712-718.
https://www.elsevier.com/books/encyclopedia-of-virology/bamford/978-0-12-814515-9 - Sõmera, M., Fargette D., Hébrard, E., Sarmiento, C., ICTV Report Consortium ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile : Solemoviridae 2021 // Journal of General Virology (2021) vol. 102, 12, art. 001707.
https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.001707 - Sõmera, M., Kvarnheden, A., Desbiez, C., Gantsovski, M., Truve, E. et al. Sixty years after the first description : genome sequence and biological characterization of European wheat striate mosaic virus infecting cereal crops // Phytopathology (2020) vol. 110, 1, p. 68-79.
https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-07-19-0258-FI - Sõmera, M., Massart, S., Tamisier, L., Sooväli, P., Sathees, K., Kvarnheden, A. Corrigendum: A survey using high-throughput sequencing suggests that the diversity of cereal and barley yellow dwarf viruses is underestimated (Front. Microbiol., (2021), 12, (673218), 10.3389/fmicb.2021.673218) // Frontiers in microbiology (2021) vol. 12, art. 772637, 2 p.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.772637 - Mõttus, J., Maiste, S., Eek, P., Truve, E., Sarmiento Guerin, M.C. Mutational analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana ABCE2 identifies important motifs for its RNA silencing suppressor function // Plant Biology (2021) vol. 23, Issue 1, p. 21-31 : ill.
https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.13193 - Linde, K. van der, Egger, R. L., Timofejeva, L., Walbot, V. Application of the pathogen Trojan horse approach in maize (Zea mays) // Plant signaling & behavior (2018) vol. 13, 12, art. e1547575, 4 p. : ill.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2018.1547575 - Sõmera, M., Truve, E., Sooväli, P. First report of wheat dwarf virus in winter wheat in Estonia // Plant disease (2019) vol. 103, 7, p. 1797.
https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-11-18-2059-PDN - Ojangu, E.-L., Ilau, B., Tanner, K., Talts, K., Ihoma, E., Dolja, V. V., Paves, H., Truve, E. Class XI myosins contribute to auxin response and senescence-induced cell death in Arabidopsis // Frontiers in plant science (2018) vol. 9, art. 1570, 21 p. : ill.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.01570 - Linde, K. van der, Timofejeva, L., Egger, R. L., Ilau, B. et al. Pathogen Trojan horse delivers bioactive host protein to alter maize anther cell behavior in situ // The Plant cell (2018) vol. 3, p. 528-542 : ill.
https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.17.00238 - Jaslan, J., Marten, I., Jakobson, L., Arjus, T., Deeken, R., Sarmiento, C., De Angeli, A., Brosche, M., Kollist, H., Hedrich, R. ALMT-independent guard cell R-type anion currents // New phytologist (2023) Vol. 239, 6, p. 2225-2234.
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19124 - Cardi, T., Murovec, J., Bakhsh, A., Boniecka, J., Bruegmann, T., Bull, S. E., Eeckhaut, T., Fladung, M., Galovic, V., ... Sarmiento, C. CRISPR/Cas-mediated plant genome editing : outstanding challenges a decade after implementation // Trends in plant science (2023) vol. 28, 10, p. 1144-1165.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2023.05.012 - Sustek-Sánchez, F., Rognli, O.A., Rostoks, N., Sõmera, M., Jaškūnė, K., Kovi, M.R., Statkevičiūtė, G., Sarmiento, C. Improving abiotic stress tolerance of forage grasses - prospects of using genome editing // Frontiers in plant science (2023) vol. 14, art. 1127532.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1127532