Targeting a conserved structural module in Phytophthora effectors for disease resistance

预计到2050年，人口将达到97亿。养活快速增长的人口的迫在眉睫的挑战受到植物病害造成的作物损失的威胁。疫霉是一种丝状真核病原体，可引起许多破坏性的植物病害，包括导致爱尔兰大饥荒期间150多万人死亡的马铃薯晚疫病，以及导致数百万林木死亡的橡树猝死。作为一组既具有历史意义又具有现实意义的病原菌，防治疫霉病害是农业生产中的一项重要任务和重大挑战。本项目旨在阐明疫霉致病的分子机制，并在此基础上开发马铃薯和其他重要作物的持久抗性。因此，该项目不仅将提供对植物-病原体相互作用的基本生物学的洞察，而且还将直接造福于美国农业。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关于遗传学、生物化学和分子生物学尖端技术的跨学科培训。它还将接触利益相关者，如马铃薯种植者，向他们通报在作物抗病方面的最新发现和技术。该项目由NSF和NIFA/USDA联合资助。疫霉利用大量称为效应器的毒力蛋白质来促进感染。效应器直接操纵植物的细胞过程，在与宿主的军备竞赛中发挥着至关重要的作用。全面了解效应器功能及其多样化和适应的分子机制是实现持久抗性的关键。这个项目是基于一个令人兴奋的发现，即大量的疫霉效应器含有一个保守的结构模块的串联重复序列，该模块耐受高水平的序列灵活性。利用遗传学、分子生物学和生化方法的组合，该项目将检验这一假设，即这个保守的模块可能作为基本构建块，使效应器进化为新的活动，从而促进毒力。此外，针对这一保守模块的植物防御机制可能使其对疫霉病害产生有效的抗性。本项目的目标是：1)阐明这个保守的结构模块在疫霉效应器功能和进化中的作用；2)从野生马铃薯物种中识别识别这种疫霉效应器保守结构的抗性基因。该项目的成果将在对疫霉病的基本了解方面取得重大进展。这个项目是翻译的，因为从野生马铃薯种质中鉴定出的抗性基因可能被整合到优秀品种中，以授予对晚疫病的抗性。这些基因还可以用来赋予对各种疫霉物种的可持续抗性。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.