Small RNA Trafficking in Cross-kingdom RNAi between Fungal Pathogen Botrytis cinerea and its Plant Hosts

植物以及人类和动物不断受到病原体、害虫和寄生虫的攻击，对全球粮食生产和人类健康造成严重后果。宿主和病原体之间的细胞间通讯在调节宿主防御和病原体毒力方面起着至关重要的作用，并且涉及跨细胞边界的调节分子的运输和交换。最近来自PI实验室的真菌sRNA易位到植物宿主细胞中以抑制宿主免疫的发现提供了病原体及其宿主之间sRNA运输的第一个例子。本项目将使用真菌病原体B。灰霉病，它导致几乎所有的蔬菜，水果和许多花卉，其植物宿主的灰霉病，了解跨王国的小RNA运输和调节的机制，并制定一个有效的RNA为基础的实用战略控制B。灰霉病和其他侵袭性病原体。该项目将为本科生、研究生和博士后研究人员提供良好的培训机会。小RNA介导的RNA干扰（RNAi）在宿主免疫和病原体毒力方面都起着至关重要的作用。PI的实验室已经发现，来自一些真核病原体的sRNA调节病原体的毒力。来自侵袭性真菌病原体灰葡萄孢（Botrytis cinerea）的一些sRNA易位到宿主植物细胞中并劫持宿主RNAi机制以沉默重要的宿主免疫基因。最近对动物系统的研究也表明，移动的sRNA能够在哺乳动物和它们相互作用的生物体之间运输。然而，这些移动的sRNA是如何在相互作用的生物体之间转运的，以及植物内源sRNA是否被分泌并易位到病原体细胞中仍然是很大程度上未知的。这些移动的sRNA在相互作用的生物体中调节什么也不清楚。该项目旨在通过确定真菌细胞和植物细胞之间sRNA运输所需的途径和组分来解决这些问题;识别和功能表征这些sRNA;并开发基于sRNA的有效方法来控制侵袭性真核病原体。这些研究结果将进一步加深我们对植物宿主和真核病原体之间跨界RNAi中sRNA运输的认识。了解sRNA如何在生物体之间交流将有助于利用和操纵sRNA进行疾病控制和宿主免疫。

Plants, as well as humans and animals, are constantly under attack by pathogens, pests, and parasites, resulting in severe consequences on global food production and human health. Cell-to-cell communication between hosts and pathogens plays an essential role in regulating host defense and pathogen virulence and involves transport and exchange of regulatory molecules across the cellular boundaries. Recent findings from the PI's lab of fungal sRNAs that translocate into plant host cells to suppress host immunity provided the first example of sRNAs trafficking between pathogens and their hosts. This project will use the fungal pathogen B. cinerea, which causes grey mold diseases on almost all vegetables, fruits and many flowers, and its plant hosts to understand the mechanism of cross-kingdom small RNA trafficking and regulation, and to develop an effective RNA-based practical strategy for controlling B. cinerea and other aggressive pathogens. This project will provide excellent training opportunities for undergraduate, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Efforts are in place to recruit students from underrepresented minorities to work on this project.Small RNA (sRNA)-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) plays an essential role in both host immunity and pathogen virulence. The PI's lab has discovered that sRNAs from some eukaryotic pathogens regulate pathogen virulence. Some sRNAs from an aggressive fungal pathogen, Botrytis cinerea, are translocated into host plant cells and hijack the host RNAi machinery to silence important host immunity genes. Recent studies from animal systems also suggest that mobile sRNAs are capable of trafficking between mammals and their interacting organisms. However, how these mobile sRNAs are transported between the interacting organisms, and whether plant endogenous sRNAs are secreted and translocated into pathogen cells are still largely unknown. It is also not clear what these mobile sRNAs regulate in the interacting organisms. This project aims to address these questions by determining pathways and components required for sRNA trafficking between fungal cells and plant cells; identifying and functionally characterizing these sRNAs; and developing sRNA-based effective means to control aggressive eukaryotic pathogens. The results of these studies will advance our knowledge of sRNA trafficking in the cross-kingdom RNAi between plant hosts and eukaryotic pathogens. Understanding how sRNAs communicate between organisms will facilitate utilization and manipulation of sRNAs for disease control and host immunity.