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Regulatory elements that control expression of virulence associated genes in the powdery mildew Blumeria graminis

Reference	BB/C513218/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Pietro Spanu
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Michael Stumpf
Institution	Imperial College London
Department	Biological Sciences
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	214,413
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/09/2005
End date	28/02/2009
Duration	42 months

Abstract

We analyse the transcriptome of Blumeria graminis during the early stages of development using cDNA microarrays. This allows us to identify clusters of genes whose pattern of expression correlates with those known to be required for full virulence in other pathogenic fungi. We will compare the expression of these genes in a normal pathogenic development to that of fungus developing abnormally or abortively on non-host and artificial surfaces. This will help us in determining which genes are most closely associated with true pathogenic development as opposed to merely associated with germination and growth. The 5 prime up-stream cis DNA of up to 30 selected genes will sequenced (2 Kb per gene): high quality sequence data of the candidate genes and the 5 prime flanking regions are essential and will be produced for this study. Such regions are commonly believed to be highly conserved between related organisms. Bioinformatics analysis of these elements will reveal common motifs that are potential recognition sites for regulatory elements controlling development. We will implement a phylogenetic footprinting approach to identify putative regulatory targets. Once evolutionary conserved elements have been identified in the statistical analysis, these will be investigated further in vivo. The functionality of the sites will be tested using reporter genes (GFP RFP) in transient expression assays in Blumeria.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Plant & Microbial Sciences (PMS)
Research Topics	Crop Science, Microbiology, Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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