Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Crop plants are exposed to many different environmental stresses (heat, cold, drought, flooding etc) and infection with and competition by other organisms (bacteria, viruses, insects, weeds etc). Responding to or defending from these stresses, causes reduced crop yield because plants often stop or slow growth while dealing with the threat. This is called the "growth-defense" tradeoff. Plant hormones regulate growth and development and the response to the environment and therefore have been hypothesized to play a role in this tradeoff. The goal of this symposium is to bring together researchers in the fields of hormone biology, abiotic and biotic stress, and development to increase discussion, collaboration and research to understand the mechanism of tradeoff between growth and response to stress. In particular, we aim to highlight the role in hormones in modifying plant development in response to stress. We will promote the participation of early career researchers, postdoctoral scholars and graduate and undergraduate students and in addition provide education in this area with a pre-symposium "Hormones 101" workshop. We will publish a special issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany, dedicated to reviews and opinions on how plant hormones mediate the interaction between stress and development. We hypothesize that understanding the mechanism of tradeoff between stress and development will advance progress on improving the resilience of crops to sustain crop yield in the future.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Plant hormones play essential roles in development and regulate the interaction of plants with the environment. As plants mount responses against any type of stress, growth and therefore yield is invariably impacted. This "growth-defense" tradeoff is well known in the field of biotic stress, but plants subjected to abiotic stress also stop growing. Various hypotheses have been proposed for this tradeoff, including resource allocation and cross talk between "stress" hormones like Jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA), abscisic acid (ABA) and ethylene (C2H4), and "growth" hormones such as auxin, cytokinin (CK), Brassinosteroids (BR) and Gibberellic acid (GA). While stress researchers often measure "growth" or biomass, the mechanism of growth suppression is not often investigated through the lens of development. The overall goal of this symposium is to bring together scientists in the fields of stress and development to accelerate discussions, collaborations and research that address the tradeoffs between growth and response to biotic and abiotic stress. We hypothesize that understanding the mechanism of the tradeoff between stress and development is required to counteract the impact of stress on crop yield. Long term, understanding this tradeoff will enable building resilient crops to sustain crop yield in the future.Objective 1 is to promote interdisciplinary research. We will bring scientists together in the fields of hormones, stress, and development to address the tradeoffs between growth and response to biotic and abiotic stress.Objective 2 is to provide networking and training opportunities for a new generation of students by including short talks, speed talks, poster sessions and a student-speaker dinner in the agenda. The "Hormones 101" workshop, the day before the symposium, will enable students to gain a foundational knowledge in plant hormones.Objective 3 is to foster career development of early career investigators. Of the nineteen confirmed speakers, five are junior and half are women. We will provide travel awards to students and early career researchers working on crops. We will further promote inclusion by inviting students from local primarily undergraduate institutions and HBCUs to attend the conference.
Project Methods
The overall goal of this symposium is to bring together scientists in the field of stress and development to promote synergistic interactions that address the tradeoffs between growth and response to biotic and abiotic stress. Our hypothesis is that plant hormones play a mechanistic role in this tradeoff.Our specific objectives and methods are:Objective 1 - Promote interdisciplinary researchWe have planned five sessions, three focusing on abiotic stress (temperature, water, and nutrients) and two on biotic stress (plant-organism and plant-plant interactions). For each session, we will have a keynote speaker on a specific hormone, followed by talks focusing on hormones, stress and development, or interactions between them. USDA funds will be used to support the travel of four early career invited speakers.Objective 2 - Provide networking and training opportunities for a new generation of studentsEach session will include selected talks from the abstracts, submitted by graduate students and postdocs, and there will be "speed talks" on posters prior to two poster sessions, which will allow plenty of time for interactions. Students and postdocs are invited to a dinner with the speakers which enables early career scientists to directly interact and network with speakers. In addition, we will host a "Hormones 101" workshop prior to the symposium, which will enable everyone, including undergraduate students, to gain foundational knowledge in all plant hormones. USDA funds will be used to reduce registration costs for all postdocs, graduate students and undergraduate students. Eight travels awards will be offered to support the attendance of postdocs and students.Objective 3 - Foster career development of early career investigators and inclusionOf the nineteen confirmed speakers, one in each session are early career (assistant professors or postdoc) and half of the confirmed speakers are women. We will further promote inclusion by inviting students from local primarily undergraduate institutions and HBCUs to attend the conference.