Synthetic biology to engineer novel disease resistance in cereal crops

这个项目旨在设计农作物对危险真菌病原体的抗性。该策略是利用我们对植物免疫系统的了解，利用结构生物学和自然抗性基因的定向进化，提高它们识别和应对真菌攻击的能力。真菌病原体在澳大利亚和世界范围内引起一些最有害的作物疾病。真菌的快速进化克服了植物的天然抗性，对这些疾病的管理是农业面临的主要挑战。该项目的预期成果包括培育出更有效抗病的转基因小麦植株，减少杀菌剂的使用。该项目旨在加速作物育种，为世界粮食安全作出贡献。

This project aims to engineer disease resistance in crops to dangerous fungal pathogens. The strategy is to exploit our knowledge of the plant immune system using structural biology and directed evolution of natural resistance genes, improving their ability to recognise and respond to fungal attack. Fungal pathogens cause some of the most harmful crop diseases in Australia and worldwide. The rapid evolution of fungi overcomes natural plant resistance and management of these diseases is a major challenge to agriculture. Expected outcomes of the project include engineered wheat plants with more effective disease resistance, reducing fungicide usage. This project intends to accelerate crop breeding and contribute to world food security.