Characterization of the natural phytotoxin mode of action, effects of inhibitors of histone deacetylases in plants and flowering and seed production in Arabidopsis thaliana depending of glyphosate low doses

• Grant number: 14/07887-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: July 20, 2014
• End date: March 19, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Principal Investigator: Caio Antonio Carbonari
• Grantee: Caio Antonio Carbonari
• Host Investigator: Frank E. Dayan
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas (FCA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States

Abstract

A postdoctoral fellowship is being held at the Natural Products Utilization Research Unit / Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Oxford, Mississippi, USA, which should enable the learning of techniques for developing projects in new research lines and joint projects with researchers from an overseas institution and may generate joint publications and participation in dissertations and theses by Brazilian students. The initial project was about aspects of the mode of action of a natural phytotoxin, the ascaulitoxine, however as explained below, it was not possible to continue the experiments with this compound. A new Project was developed, which included the characterization of the other natural phytotoxin mode of action (still encoded molecule , provisionally called HD100) with good herbicide potential.. For the implementation of this project we developed a new methodology for evaluation of enzymes histone deacetylases (HDACs) still very unexplored in plants, especially regarding inhibition potential for natural and synthetic compounds (possibility of a new mechanism of action herbicides). Different studies were performed, the first to characterize the mechanism of action of this natural compound and the second to assess the potential inhibition of HDACs in plants by many natural and synthetic compounds with known effects of these enzymes in animals. Are also being conducted experiments to evaluate the effect of low doses of glyphosate in the plants flowering and was used as a model Arabidopsis plants. Experiments are being conducted to evaluate the morphophysiologic effects and also for RNA extraction to performe the sequencing and transcriptome study of plants treated with glyphosate low doses. During the postdoctoral period, are also being developed activities related to understanding the mechanisms of weed resistance to herbicides and the development of methodologies for the identification of plant poisoning by herbicides.