Deciphering the mechanism of action of the Phytophthora infestans effector Pi13628 in the suppression of MAMP-dependent signalling in tomato

卵菌是一类深分枝真核生物，包括引起拟南芥霜霉病的阿拉伯透明膜孢菌或引起马铃薯和番茄晚疫病的致病疫霉。在计算机分析中预测，几个卵菌物种的基因组编码了大量所谓的RXLR-(EER)效应器，这些效应器被认为是操纵宿主细胞功能的感染策略的一部分。本项目的主要目标是在拟南芥和番茄中使用基于细胞的系统来鉴定和表征来自阿拉比多比迪斯和致病疫霉的RXLR-(EER)效应子，这些效应子1)抑制由不变微生物结构识别而触发的植物免疫反应，称为病原体相关分子模式(PAMPs)，和/或2)干扰植物细胞中的囊泡运输系统。随后，将进行包括生化和生理分析在内的补充方法，以确定候选RXLR-(EER)效应器的功能以及表征/发现它们的植物靶标。该系统的一个主要优势是，它将复杂的病原体-植物相互作用简化为纯粹的单个信号和同步的细胞自主反应，使其成为测试数百个效应器的强大的高中通量工具。

Oomycetes are deep-branching eukaryotes that include Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis, the causal agent of downy mildew on Arabidopsis thaliana, or Phytophthora infestans which causes potato and tomato late blight. In silico analysis predicted that the genome of several oomycete species encodes for a large number of so-called RXLR-(EER) effectors that are assumed to manipulate host cellular functions as part of their infection strategy. The main objective of this project will consist to use a cell-based system in Arabidopsis and tomato to identify and characterize RXLR-(EER) effectors from H.arabidopsidis and P. infestans that 1) suppress plant immune responses triggered by the recognition of invariant microbial structures, termed Pathogen-Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs), and/or 2) interfere with the vesicle trafficking system in plant cells. Subsequently, complementary approaches including biochemical and physiological assays will be performed to ascribe functions to the candidate RXLR-(EER) effectors as well as characterizing/discovering their plant targets. A major advantage of the system is that it simplifies the complex pathogen-plant interactions to pure individual signals and synchronized cell-autonomous responses, making it as a powerful high-medium throughput tool to test hundreds of effectors.