Caroline C. Von Dahl

Post Doc

Office/Lab: Room 211 / Lab # 211

Research Summary

Plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses are triggered by a multitude of signal compounds rather than the sole province of a single plant hormone. I am interested in the regulation of plant defense responses against pathogens and herbivores; specifically in the interaction of different signaling components.

During my PhD I studied the herbivore-induced emission of the small molecular mass compounds, methanol and ethylene, concentrating on their role in tuning the defense response of Nicotiana attenuata, a wild tobacco species. Insect-induced defense responses are believed to be primarily regulated by jasmonic acid (JA), but herbivore-induced ethylene emissions modulate these responses.

My current project focuses on the regulation of systemic acquired resistance (SAR). SAR is a potent defense induced throughout the plant by an initial pathogen infection. This increased protection of healthy tissue is triggered by salicylic acid (SA) and elicited by a set of recognition systems that are known to induce distinct local defenses. Recently, methyl salicylate (MeSA) has been identified as a mobile signal initiating SAR in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and Arabidopsis thaliana. In addition, lipid signaling has been proposed from experiments with mutants that lack the development of SAR. This raises the interesting question if and how these different signaling cascades are connected.

Publications

Diezel C., von Dahl C.C., Gaquerel E. & Baldwin I.T. (2009) Different Lepidopteran elicitors account for cross-talk in herbivory-induced phytohormone signaling. Plant Physiol. 150(3), 1576-1586

Körner E., von Dahl C.C., Bonaventure G. & Baldwin I.T. (2009) Pectin methylesterase NaPME1 contributes to the emission of methanol during insect herbivory and to the elicitation of defence responses in Nicotiana attenuata. J. Exp. Bot. 60(9), 2631-2640

Inderjit., von Dahl C.C., & Baldwin I.T. (2009) Use of silenced plants in allelopathy bioassays: a novel approach. Planta 229(3), 569-575

von Dahl C.C., Winz R.A., Halitschke R., Kühnemann F., Gase K., & Baldwin I.T. (2007) Tuning the herbivore-induced ethylene burst: the role of transcript accumulation and ethylene perception in Nicotiana attenuata. Plant J. 51(2), 293-307

von Dahl C.C. & Baldwin I.T. (2007) Deciphering the role of ethylene in plant-herbivore interactions. J. Plant Growth Regul., 26(2), 201-209 (review article)

Barazani, O., von Dahl C.C., & Baldwin I.T. (2007) Sebacina vermifera promotes the growth and fitnes of Nicotiana attenuata by inhibiting ethylene signaling. Plant Physiol. 144(2), 1223-1232

von Dahl C.C., Hävecker M., Schlögl R., & Baldwin I.T. (2006) Caterpillar-elicited methanol: a new signal in plant-herbivore interactions? Plant J. 46(6), 948-960

Baldwin I.T., Halitschke R., Paschold A., von Dahl C.C., & Preston C.A. (2006) Volatile signaling in plant-plant interactions: “talking trees” in the genomic era. Science 311(5762), 812-815 (review article)

von Dahl C.C. & Baldwin I.T. (2004) Methyl jasmonate and cis-jasmone do not dispose of the herbivore-induced jasmonate burst in Nicotiana attenuata. Physiol. Plant. 120(3), 474-481