07.09.2018// Brendan O'Leary, ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, University of Western Australia

How do Metabolites Control Respiration Rate?
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A main function of plant mitochondria is to generate energy by oxidizing carbon substrates as part of cellular respiration. What determines which substrate(s) a mitochondria uses to support respiratory ATP production? Catabolite repression is a concept originating from observations that microbes use a gene regulatory system to sequentially consume their favorite substrates one at a time rather than feasting on a bit of everything at once. Using a new high-throughput technique, which allows multi-hour leaf respiratory measurements following exposure to external metabolites, Brendan has determined that plant mitochondrial respiration operates in a way that is consistent with the existence of a catabolite repression regulatory network. Furthermore, this selective process is linked to the timed expression of transcription factors and specific downstream metabolic enzymes upon depletion of preferred substrates. Ongoing elucidation of catabolite repression signaling will advance our understanding of how the complex metabolic network encompassing respiration is regulated and how plants ensure that their cellular energy requirements are met under stressful environmental conditions.
 
Brendan is a former Queen’s student (BSc Biochemistry 2006 -> PhD Biology 2011) and captain of Queen’s Men’s Varsity Basketball team. After completing several years of post-doctoral research in the Dept. of Plant Sciences at the Univ. of Oxford (UK), he was awarded a prestigious Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) from the Australian Research Council to work with Harvey Millar and his team at the Univ. of Western Australia in sunny Perth.   

11:30-12:30 BioSci Rm. 3110