Abstract: Stress dependent usage of specific mRNAs is a common process in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. The mechanism, key players and their regulative pathways regulating mRNA storage, translation or degradation during stress acclimation are the main focus of our research. Analyzing specific pools of mRNAs targeted towards translation, storage or degradation enables us find regulatory units determining the fate of specific mRNAs. Our latest advances towards understanding mRNA usage, rather than just abundance, revealed a high light acclimation signaling pathway controlled via translational regulation. We hypothesized that chloroplast-derived retrograde signals directly address protein synthesis in neighboring cytosol which provides a mechanism how chloroplasts distant to the nucleus directly affect protein delivery needed for acclimation. This pathway includes regulatory mRNA features, their corresponding RBPs and subsequent signaling, bifurcating into a direct translational circuit and a translation-reliant nuclear circuit synchronizing translation, nuclear and anterograde response pathways. Taking advantage of these mechanism will potentially allow future developments towards high precision gene expression.

Biography: Dr. Marten Moore’s research focuses on stress signaling, with special emphasis on post-transcriptional mRNA regulation. Marten is a Postdoctoral Fellow working in Barry Pogson’s lab at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Energy Biology at the Australian National University (ANU). He studied Bioinformatics and Genome Research at Bielefeld University (Germany) and completed his BSc thesis in in the lab of Bernd Weisshaar on the topic of early flavonoid biosynthesis pathways regulated via the transcription factor TRANSPARENT TESTA 1 (TT1). During his MSc at Bielefeld University in Molecular Cell Biology he worked in the lab of Karl-Josef Dietz on Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 6 (MPK6) dependent retrograde signal transduction. Marten continued his research in Karl-Josef Dietz’s lab and received his PhD from Bielefeld University establishing first insights into cytosolic translation as target of retrograde signalling during high light acclimation. After joining Barry Pogson’s lab, he focuses his research on signalling pathways determining the utility of mRNA during stress, especially translational recruitment and mRNA decay.