UV-B Exposure of Ozone Sensitive and Ozone Tolerant Arabidopsis

Lauri Vaahtera visited Prof. Åke Strid in Sweden (7 days in March 2011)

Variation between natural populations within a species is rich and largely untouched resource for genetic information. We are using this resource to find new genes related to plant stress tolerance with emphasis on the air pollutant ozone. While searching for factors affecting ozone sensitivity of Arabidopsis thaliana we have found one gene locus having an impact on not only to ozone sensitivity but also anthocyanin biosynthesis. This implies that there is a connection between UV-B signalling and ozone-triggered signalling in plants. On my STSM to Örebro University I exposed my ozone sensitive and ozone tolerant Arabidopsis strains to UV-B to understand how these stress responses are connected. According to the results from plant stress physiology changes and gene expression, there indeed is a connection, but more work is still needed to reveal the genes and the mechanisms behind this phenomenon. The work continues and I will definitely return to UV-B and Örebro later on this project.