bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.13.249318; this version posted August 14, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. The nitrogen-fixing symbiotic cyanobacterium, Nostoc punctiforme can regulate plant programmed cell death Samuel P. Belton1,4, Paul F. McCabe1,2,3, Carl K. Y. Ng1,2,3* 1UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science, 2UCD Centre for Plant Science, 3UCD Earth Institute, O’Brien Centre for Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, DN04 E25, Republic of Ireland 4Present address: DBN Plant Molecular Laboratory, National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, Dublin, D09 E7F2, Republic of Ireland *email:
[email protected] Acknowledgements This work was financially supported by a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship from the Irish Research Council (GOIPG/2015/2695) to SPB. Author contributions S.P.B., P.F.M, and C.K.Y.N conceived of the study and designed the experiments. S.B. performed all the experiments and analysed the data. S.B. prepared the draft of the manuscript with the help of P.F.M and C.K.Y.N. All authors read, edited, and approved the manuscript. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.13.249318; this version posted August 14, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Abstract Cyanobacteria such as Nostoc spp.