NSF 2010 Grant: Oomycete Effector Proteins as Molecular Probes to Elucidate Arabidopsis Disease Resistance Signaling Networks

在植物与病原体相互作用的进化过程中，病原体获得了向植物宿主传递效应蛋白的能力，从而重新编程宿主防御信号系统。本项目将利用植物卵菌病原菌Hyaloperonospora parasitica产生的效应物作为分子探针，阐明拟南芥中现有和未发现的防御信号通路，拟南芥是植物生物学许多领域研究的主要模式物种。其基本原理是，专性病原体，如寄生蜂，已经进化出了一个复杂的毒力效应蛋白库，可以重新编程宿主，使病原体增殖。因此，在宿主中发现这些蛋白的靶标的能力将揭示拟南芥基因组中许多未知基因的功能。此外，抗性蛋白对这些效应物的特异性识别以及随后诱导的信号通路的表征将使我们能够在这些信号网络中为许多未表征的基因分配基因功能。卵菌效应蛋白的拟南芥靶点的阐明为深入了解专性寄生的分子基础提供了一个独特的机会，并揭示了卵菌病原体利用的避免宿主检测和引发疾病的新途径。就其更广泛的影响而言，该项目将有可能促进培育具有持久和广谱抗性的作物的技术的发展。该项目还将为本科生、研究生和博士后提供机会，不仅在经典植物与病原体相互作用的生物学方面进行培训，而且还将采用计算生物学、遗传学、生物化学、结构和细胞生物学等先进方法来研究这些过程。

During the evolution of plant-pathogen interactions, pathogens have acquired the capacity to deliver effector proteins into their plant hosts that re-program host defense signaling systems. This project will employ effectors produced by the oomycete plant pathogen Hyaloperonospora parasitica as molecular probes to elucidate existing and undiscovered defense signaling pathways in Arabidopsis, a major model species for studies in many areas of plant biology. The rationale is that obligate pathogens such as H. parasitica have evolved a sophisticated arsenal of virulence effector proteins that reprogram the host to allow the pathogen to proliferate. Thus, the ability to uncover the targets of these proteins in the host should reveal the function of many unknown genes in the Arabidopsis genome. Furthermore, the specific recognition of these effectors by resistance proteins and the characterization of the subsequently induced signaling pathways will allow us to assign gene function to many uncharacterized genes in these signaling networks. The elucidation of the Arabidopsis targets of the oomycete effector proteins represents a unique opportunity to gain insight into the molecular basis of obligate parasitism and to reveal novel pathways that oomycete pathogens exploit to avoid host detection and incite disease. In its broader impact, this project will potentially facilitate the development of technologies for generating crops with durable and broad-spectrum resistance. The project will also provide opportunities for undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to be trained not only in the biology of classical plant-pathogen interactions but to employ advanced methods of computational biology, genetics, biochemistry, structural and cell biological methods to study these processes.