Award details

Analysis of infection processes in plant pathogenic fungi

Reference	BBS/E/C/00004409
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor John Lucas
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Rothamsted Research Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	521,825
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/10/2000
End date	31/03/2008
Duration	90 months

Abstract

Many plant pathogenic fungi initiate the disease process by forming specialised infection structures on the surface of the host plant and within the first colonised host cells. This project aims to understand the processes involved in host infection including: adhesion to the plant surface, induction of appressoria, host penetration and the formation of intracellular hyphae. The main focus of the project is hemibiotrophic fungi such as the cereal eyespot fungus Tapesia. Key questions addressed include: What signals are responsible for the induction of specific infection structures? What stage-specific genes and gene products are critical for host colonisation? How do biotrophic pathogens maintain intracellular growth without inducing host defence? Experimental approaches involve microscopic imaging of early infection events on the host plant and artificial surfaces, detection of stage-specific antigens using monoclonal (Mab) and phage antibody (Phab) probes, and isolation of infection structures for preparation of cDNA/EST libraries.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Plant & Microbial Sciences (PMS)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
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

I accept the terms and conditions of use (opens in new window)

export PDF file

back to list new search