Cloning of ZIF1 promoter: reporter construct and ZIF1 overexpression construct
Student name: Ms Anjali Mishra
Guide: Dr Anandita Singh
Year of completion: 2017
Host Organisation: Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr Ashis K Nandi
Abstract: Plants are always under the threat of pathogens; they directly attack plants and cause various plant disease which is one of the main reason of yield loss every year. Like animals plants also have their innate immunity that helps a plant to fight against these pathogens. Plant immune
system is divided into two categories PTI (Pattern triggered immunity) and ETI (Effector triggered immunity). PTI act as the first level of defence that mostly works on the surface level
whereas ETI is much stronger and works on an internal level by recognizing effector molecules
secreted by the pathogen. ETI also led to the hyper-sensitive response, in which plants kill the
affected cell and thus trapping the pathogen inside the cell. But the plant's immune system is not
sufficient to combat the pathogens, for this plant scientist are studying the plant immune system
so that they can develop new variety of plants that will be resistant toward the pathogens. This can be done by studying the plant on a biochemical and molecular level. There are many genes
of plants that are found to have a role in plant immunity and can be helpful in making a plant
resistant to the pathogens. ZFD1 is one such gene which is the positive regulator of plant
defence against pathogens. This gene is found to be involved in both PTI as well as ETI but the
machinery of this gene is still unknown. Through yeast-two-hybrid experiment an interacting partner of this gene was identified named as ZIFI Mutant line of ZIF1 is found to be susceptible
to the pathogen which indicates that this gene has a role in plant immunity. The exact function of this gene is unknown and further study is required to know its function as well as the
machinery of ZFD1. Developing overexpression line of ZIF1 can be helpful in studying the role
of ZIF1 contributing towards the machinery of ZFD1.
