Postdoctoral associate Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing & Biotechnology Starkville, Mississippi
Body of Abstract: genetic components involved in SAR have been identified. Still, a sparsity of knowledge in SAR initialization and maintenance exist. From differential gene expression and time series clustering, we found several genes to have a period that doubles in time during the first day of SAR. We describe a core three-component system of ordinary differential equations that drives the expression of these genes. The model captures this oscillator with a period that doubles in time. The main three components of the model were reactive oxygen species (ROS), antioxidants (Aox), and a transcription factor (TF). We show that the model describes gene dynamics during the first day after infection. The model predicts gene expression during the second day for most genes. Redox potential estimated during the first and second day using GSH/GSSG correlated with a redox potential inferred by the model (Pearson correlation: 0.995). Furthermore, we show that the oscillations at the end of the first day are close to the circadian clock with a periodicity of 26h. Using our mathematical model, we discovered that ROS and Aox are likely involved in the early onset of SAR by producing an oscillator with a period that doubles in time. We, therefore, present a mathematical and mechanistic model explaining the onset of SAR through oscillations that double in period during the first day and sustainment of SAR in Arabidopsis by entrainment with the clock.