My enemy’s enemy is my friend: The genetics of major plant pathogen killers

真菌是作物病害的毁灭性因子。反过来，这些植物病原体往往被田间的其他真菌寄生。该项目将重点研究许多农作物和野生植物的重要病原体白粉病与它们常见的真菌寄生菌(Ampelmyces spp.)之间的相互作用。已经被利用为 作物保护中的生防剂。将使用遗传和基因组工具来确定这些寄生虫是否通过将宿主从植物切换到植物病原体而进化。该项目有可能在这一领域取得开创性的发现，并为保护广泛多样性的新创新方法奠定基础。 利用这些真菌或从它们衍生出的特定化合物的作物。

Fungi are devastating agents of crop diseases. These plant pathogens, in turn, are often parasitized by other fungi in the field. The project will focus on such interactions between powdery mildews, important pathogens of many crops and wild plants, and their common fungal parasites (Ampelomyces spp.) that have already been utilised as biocontrol agents in crop protection. Genetic and genomic tools will be used to determine if these parasites evolved by switching host from plants to plant pathogens. The project has the potential to make a ground-breaking discovery in this field, and also establish the starting point for new innovative methods to protect a wide diversity of crops using these fungi or specific compounds derived from them.