Targeting a conserved structural module in Phytophthora effectors for disease resistance

预计到2050年，人口将达到97亿。养活迅速增长的人口的挑战迫在眉睫，植物病害造成的作物损失威胁着这一挑战。疫霉属是丝状真核病原体，其引起许多破坏性植物疾病，包括在爱尔兰大饥荒期间造成超过150万人死亡的马铃薯晚疫病和杀死数百万棵森林树木的突然橡树死亡。疫霉是一组具有历史和现实重要性的病原菌，防治疫霉病害是农业的重要使命和重大挑战。该项目旨在阐明疫霉致病的分子机制，并在此基础上，发展马铃薯和其他重要作物的持久抗性。因此，该项目不仅将深入了解植物-病原体相互作用的基础生物学，还将直接使美国农业受益。该项目的更广泛影响包括为博士后研究人员、研究生和本科生提供遗传学、生物化学和分子生物学前沿技术的跨学科培训。该项目还将与利益相关者（如马铃薯种植者）接触，向他们提供有关作物抗病性发展的最新发现和技术。该项目由NSF和NIFA/USDA共同资助。疫霉利用大量的毒力蛋白（称为效应子）来促进感染。效应子直接操纵植物的细胞过程，在与宿主的军备竞赛中起着至关重要的作用。全面了解效应子功能及其多样化和适应的分子机制对于实现持久抗性至关重要。该项目是基于一个令人兴奋的发现，即大量的疫霉效应子包含一个保守的结构模块，它容忍一个高水平的序列灵活性的串联重复。使用遗传学，分子生物学和生物化学方法的组合，该项目将测试这一保守模块可能作为一个基本的构建模块，使新的活动，从而有助于毒力效应进化的假设。此外，针对该保守模块的植物防御机制可能使其能够有效地抵抗毁灭性的疫霉属疾病。该项目的目标是：1）阐明该保守结构模块在疫霉效应子功能和进化中的作用;以及2）从野生马铃薯物种中鉴定识别疫霉效应子的该保守结构的抗性基因。该项目的成果将在对疫霉属疾病的基本认识方面取得重大进展。这个项目是翻译的，因为从野生马铃薯种质鉴定的抗性基因可以被整合到优良品种中，以赋予对晚疫病的抗性。这些基因也可用于赋予对多种疫霉属物种的可持续抗性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The human population is projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. The looming challenge of feeding the rapidly growing population is threatened by crop losses from plant diseases. Phytophthora are filamentous eukaryotic pathogens that cause numerous destructive plant diseases including potato late blight that was responsible for over 1.5 million deaths during the Great Irish Famine and the sudden oak death that has killed millions of forest trees. As a group of pathogens with both historical and current importance, battling Phytophthora diseases is an important mission and a major challenge in agriculture. This project aims to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying Phytophthora pathogenesis and, based on this knowledge, develop durable resistance in potato and other important crops. As such, this project will not only provide insight into basic biology of plant-pathogen interactions but also directly benefit US Agriculture. Broader impacts of this project include providing interdisciplinary training to postdoctoral researchers, graduate students and undergraduate students on cutting-edge technologies of genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology. It will also reach out to stakeholders, such as potato growers, by informing them with the latest findings and technologies on developing disease resistance in crops.This project is funded jointly by NSF and by NIFA/USDA.Phytophthora employs a large arsenal of virulence proteins, called effectors, to facilitate infection. Directly manipulating plant cellular processes, effectors play an essential role in the arms race with the hosts. An overall understanding of effector functions and the molecular mechanisms underlying their diversification and adaptation is critical to implement durable resistance. This project is based on the exciting discovery that a large number of Phytophthora effectors contain tandem repeats of a conserved structural module, which tolerates a high level of sequence flexibility. Using a combination of genetic, molecular biology, and biochemical approaches, this project will test the hypothesis that this conserved module may serve as a basic building block to enable effector evolution for novel activities and thereby contributing to virulence. Furthermore, plant defense mechanism targeting this conserved module may enable effective resistance against the destructive Phytophthora diseases. The goals of this project are: 1) elucidating the role of this conserved structural module in Phytophthora effector function and evolution; and 2) identifying resistance genes that recognize this conserved structure of Phytophthora effectors from wild potato species. The outcome of this project will make major advancement in the fundamental understanding of Phytophthora diseases. This project is translational because the resistance genes identified from wild potato accessions may be incorporated into elite varieties in order to confer resistance to late blight. These genes could also be used to confer sustainable resistance to a broad variety of Phytophthora species.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.