Publication details for Professor Marc Knight

Pinneh, E.C., Stoppel, R., Knight, H., Knight, M.R., Steel, P.G. & Denny, P.W. (2019). Expression levels of inositol phosphorylceramide synthase modulate plant responses to biotic and abiotic stress in Arabidopsis thaliana. PLoS ONE 14(5): e0217087.

• Publication type: Journal Article
• ISSN/ISBN: 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217087
• Further publication details on publisher web site
• Durham Research Online (DRO) - may include full text

Author(s) from Durham

• Professor Paul Denny
• Professor Marc Knight
• Dr Heather Knight

Abstract

This research was undertaken to investigate the global role of the plant inositol phosphorylceramide synthase (IPCS), a non-mammalian enzyme previously shown to be associated with the pathogen response. RNA-Seq analyses demonstrated that over-expression of inositol phosphorylceramide synthase isoforms AtIPCS1, 2 or 3 in Arabidopsis thaliana resulted in the down-regulation of genes involved in plant response to pathogens. In addition, genes associated with the abiotic stress response to salinity, cold and drought were found to be similarly down-regulated. Detailed analyses of transgenic lines over-expressing AtIPCS1-3 at various levels revealed that the degree of down-regulation is specifically correlated with the level of IPCS expression. Singular enrichment analysis of these down-regulated genes showed that AtIPCS1-3 expression affects biological signaling pathways involved in plant response to biotic and abiotic stress. The up-regulation of genes involved in photosynthesis and lipid localization was also observed in the over-expressing lines.

Notes

Data Availability: All transcriptomic data used in the study are publicly available in GEO (GEO accession number GSE129016).