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How Plants React to Stress

Symposium on Stress Memory of Plants from February 18 to 20 at Freie Universität

№ 039/2015 from Feb 12, 2015

Stress responses of plants, fungi, and bacteria will be discussed at a symposium on February 18 to 20, 2015, at Freie Universität Berlin. The meeting is being organized by the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 973 "Priming and Memory of Organismic Responses to Stress." Renowned experts from Europe, the United States, and Mexico will discuss which strategies plants and other life forms use when confronted with stress factors such as heat, drought, cold, pathogens, and insect infestation. They will also address how stressful first experiences prepare the organism for upcoming stress events. In particular, the symposium will focus on the stress memory of plants. Entitled “Bridging Ecology and Molecular Biology: Organismic Responses to Recurring Stress,” the symposium will be held in English. The meeting is public, and admission is free.

The speakers will highlight the conference theme from different perspectives. Emphasis will be placed on the role of epigenetics in plant stress memory, the hormonal regulation of immunity in plants, and (bio)chemistry in shaping plant stress responses. Additional aspects to be discussed are the stress memory in communities of bacteria and fungi and the evolutionary aspects of plant stress responses.

CRC 973 "Priming and Memory of Organismic Responses to Stress" examines the role of the stress memory of plants, fungi, and bacteria as well as its ecological framework using an approach that combines environmental science with molecular biology and biochemistry. The scientists aim to clarify the molecular, biochemical, and physiological mechanisms that play a role in shaping stress reactions and the memory of stress events. They also hope to gain insights into how the stability and predictability of environmental conditions may affect the stress responses of organisms.

CRC 973 has been funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 2012. Freie Universität is the main partner and the University of Potsdam and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular of Plant Physiology in Potsdam-Golm are also involved. The spokesperson for CRC 973 is the professor of applied zoology and animal ecology, Monika Hilker.

Time and Location

  • Wednesday, February 18 to Friday, February 20, 2015; The Wednesday sessions start at 5 p.m., on Thursday and Friday, at 9 a.m.
  • Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin, Königin-Luise-Straße 6-8, 14195 Berlin; S-Bhf. Botanischer Garten (S1), Bus X 83, M 48, 101

Feature in campus.leben, the online magazine of Freie Universität Berlin

www.fu-berlin.de/campusleben/forschen/2015/150212_pflanzenstress/index.html  (in German)

Further Information

Tobias Otte, Scientific Coordinator, SFB 973, Tel.: +49 30 838-70973, Email: tobias.otte@fu-berlin.de

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