Page 64 - Plant Canada 2024 Proceeding

PLANT CANADA 2024

Wednesday, July 10

Dr. Jan Leach
Colorado State University

“Intergenic spaces: A new frontier to improving
plant health”

Abstract: Adaptation of plants to both biotic and
abiotic stresses involve changes in expression
patterns of genes in diverse defense and tolerance
pathways. These expression changes are controlled
by short sequences in promoter regions known as
cis-regulatory elements (CRE) or combinations of
CRE organized as modules (called cis-regulatory
modules or CRM). Conserved CRE/CRMs are
shared among stress response genes, and genetic
polymorphisms in CRE/CRMs significantly impact gene expression. We have shown the
presence of shared sets of CRMs in promoters of genes conferring broad-spectrum
disease resistance (BSDR) to multiple diseases in rice. In addition, conserved CRE and
CRM are common to genes co-activated in plants with enhanced tolerance to different
types of stresses, such as thermotolerance and disease. We propose a strategy to
simultaneously increase heat and disease tolerance in crop plants through the
development of breeding markers that are based on conserved CRE/CRMs associated
with functional candidate genes. Our goal is to enable genome-wide selection of
complex traits with a reduced number of markers, allowing for efficient, critical solutions
to enhance sustainable food production for a growing global population.

Bio: Jan Leach is a molecular plant pathologist who studies the basis of plant disease
susceptibility and resistance and how these responses are influenced by interactions within the
phytobiome. She is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agricultural
Biology at Colorado State University. Leach is the Immediate Past President of the International
Society of Plant Pathology and is a Fellow and a past President of the American
Phytopathological Society (APS). Leach was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in
2021.

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