DFG Research Unit 5116

"exRNA" Plant-microbe communication through extracellular RNA. Systems-level approaches to explore molecular mechanisms and agronomic applications.

Food security and healthy food for 11 billion people in 2100 is one ofthe major challenges of this century. According to the scientific literature, there is no other option than to increase the global yield efficiency and reduce the yield gap to guarantee global food security – given that further land increase for agriculture is not an acceptable alternative. To realize these agricultural goals new understanding of the mechanisms of plant diseases and new technology discoveries in crop protection are required. Hence, it is the major aim of this initiative to create a vibrant, dynamic and internationally leading and collaborative consortium with the common goal of developing a mechanistic understanding of RNA-mediated cross-kingdom (ckRNA) communication between plant hosts and their pathogens. Our central hypothesis is that exRNAs (RNA effectors) have a conserved key role in pathogen infection and plant health, and therefore also have a high potential for improving plant health.

The overall strategic objectives of our initiative are:

• to reveal the role of exRNAs in cell-to-cell communication and their delivery pathways
• to enable the development of novel strategies for plant protection
• to build research capacity in exRNA biology together with training the next generation of students in this important research area

Our specific aims are:

• Finding strategies to improve the use of RNA in controlling plant diseases
• Elucidating the principles of cross-kingdom communication in plant-microbe interactions
• Assessing the routes of exRNAs inplant-microbe cross-kingdom communication
• Discovering the key transacting factors involved in the transport of exRNAs

The consortium unites experts with advanced knowledge and key publications in the field of non-coding RNAs, RNA transport, RNA-protein interaction, RNA-mediated cross-kingdom communication, vesicle biology, and RNA-based plant protection, including plant pathologist, mycologists, botanists, cell biologists and biochemists. We anticipate that the knowledge gained in this consortium can be used in the future to improve agronomic RNA applications, i.e. by using novel formulations, types of RNA and/or employing RNA-binding proteins and vesicle-based delivery.