Informal Seminar - Tatsuya Nobori

Plant-microbe interactions profoundly influence agricultural productivity and ecosystem

dynamics. Over the past few decades, research has revealed the molecular bases underlyingthese interactions, including the plant immune system and microbial strategies forcolonization. However, our understanding of the cellular bases of these processes remainslimited. To resolve this, we used single-nucleus multiomics and spatial transcriptomics toinvestigate immune responses in Arabidopsis thaliana leaves infected with bacterialpathogens. Our analyses revealed a rich diversity of immune cell states, each defined bydistinct transcriptome and gene regulatory signatures. Notably, we identified a rare "primaryimmune responder" (PRIMER) cell state that emerges at the nexus of immune-active regions.These initial findings underscore a new perspective–that immune cell states arefundamental building blocks of the plant immune system. In this talk, I will present ourefforts to map the diversity, regulation, and function of these states and introduce newapproaches for dissecting plant-microbe interactions at cellular resolution.