Prof. Dr. Jane Elizabeth Parker

Profile

Academic positionAssociate Professor, Senior Lecturer, Reader
Research fieldsPlant Genetics and Genomics,Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
KeywordsDefence, Gene function, Plant immunity, Pathogen, Signal transduction
Honours and awards

2023: Elected Fellow of The Royal Society, UK

2023: Elected International Member of US National Academy of Sciences

2016: EMBO member

2013: Elected to ‘Leopoldina’ German National Academy of Sciences

Current contact address

CountryGermany
CityKöln
InstitutionMax-Planck-Institut für Pflanzenzüchtungsforschung
InstitutePlant-Microbe Interactions

Host during sponsorship

Prof. Dr. Paul Schulze-LefertAbteilung Molekulare Pflanzengenetik (Prof. Saedler), Max-Planck-Institut für Pflanzenzüchtungsforschung, Köln
Prof. Dr. Heinz SaedlerAbteilung Molekulare Pflanzengenetik (Prof. Saedler), Max-Planck-Institut für Pflanzenzüchtungsforschung, Köln
Start of initial sponsorship01/09/2001

Programme(s)

2001Sofja Kovalevskaja Award Programme

Nominator's project description

Dr. Jane Parkers research activities are aimed at unravelling disease resistance signalling pathways in the model plant, Arabidopsis. Some of these pathways are triggered by specific recognition between plant Resistance (R) gene and pathogen avirulence (avr) gene-encoded products. Other pathways exert low level "basal" resistance against virulent pathogens. Her group identified in mutational screens genes that are essential for R gene-triggered resistance. Two of these genes, EDS1 and PAD4 , are recruited by one structural class of intracellular, nucleotide-binding/leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) R proteins. EDS1 and PAD4 are also necessary for expression of basal resistance. Engagement of the other two genes, RAR1 and SGT1, is not determined by a particular NB-LRR protein type. Also, their activities appear to be restricted to R gene-conditioned responses. In her future work, Jane Parker is going to use a combination of genetic, molecular and biochemical approaches to understand how the regulatory proteins EDS1, PAD4, RAR1, and SGT1 perform their respective roles in plant defence and discover which cellular processes they alter.