Award details

Novel strategies for identifying signal sensing and transducing factors in plant pathogenic fungi

Reference	BBS/E/C/00824188
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor John Lucas
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Rothamsted Research Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	96,127
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/1999
End date	31/03/2002
Duration	36 months

Abstract

Many plant pathogenic fungi initiate disease through the development and differentiation of specialized infection structures, which can overcome the various barriers to infection posed by the plant. Inhibition or mutation of genes and proteins involved in infection structure formation can inhibit infection. These structures differentiate in response to specific signals such as hydrophobicity, surface topology or the presence of specific chemicals, which are encountered on the plant surface or within the plant. Although much is known about which environmental signals trigger gene activation and morphological changes in fungi, we do not understand what factors are required by the fungus to sense these stimuli. Discovery of the nature of this sensory apparatus will not only pave the way for new areas of scientific endeavour, but also holds the key to devising new types of environmentally benign chemicals aimed at preventing activation of pathogenicity by blocking the ability of the pathogen to sense the plant. Signals perceived at the plant- fungal interface are thought to be transduced to a pattern of gene expression through mechanisms such as G protein and cAMP triggered MAP kinase cascades. This proposal aims to develop a novel strategy for identifying genes involved in signal sensing and infection structure induction using the cereal eyespot pathogen Tapesia yallundae as a model system. The strategy uses an inducible fungal promoter coupled to a toxin subunit gene which is only active within transformed cells under inducing conditions. Hence this can be used as a powerful positive selection system to efficiently screen large numbers of mutants affected in signal perception and transduction pathways essential for pathogenesis. Mutations identified by this method will be used to clone and characterize the corresponding wild-type genes, some of which will represent novel targets for chemical intervention.

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

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