Keeping the leaves on: investigating disease threats to trees

保持叶子不变：调查树木的疾病威胁

• 批准号: 2891523
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Dundee
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2891523
• 关键词: Keeping; leaves; investigating; disease; threats

Trees provide many ecosystem benefits, including for soil health, shelter, and food. Tree planting is often proposed as a method to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide and thus mitigate climate change. As long-lived organisms, trees are threatened by disease throughout their lives, with the potential to limit their carbon capture potential. The destructive genus of plant pathogens, Phytophthora, is prevalent among disease agents of trees. These pathogens are emerging threats that are becoming more widespread due to human activity and climate change. The outward symptoms of tree disease caused by different Phytophthora species can be very similar, but our knowledge of the underlying mechanisms used by each species as they colonise and cause disease in trees is rudimentary. A deeper understanding of Phytophthora infection of trees is crucial to establishing whether breeding programmes to develop disease resistance are viable options.Three lines of research can be followed in this project:1. We are able to genetically transform Phytophthora species to express fluorescent markers. The aim in this objective is to generate tagged strains of different tree pathogenic Phytophthora species and follow infection of root, stem, and leaf tissue in the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana and in natural tree hosts. Confocal, or super-resolution microscopy can be used to determine how these pathogens enter and exit different tissue types as infection progresses.2. The role of virulence proteins (called effectors) in tree disease is largely unknown, especially while the pathogen is colonising woody tissues. Proteomic analyses of Phytophthora proteins secreted into plant vascular tissue will be used to reveal candidate effectors that are common/distinct to tree colonisation by different Phytophthora species.3. Candidate effector proteins can be either silenced, or knocked out using CRISPR-Cas, to determine their importance to Phytophthora infection of different tissue types in tree hosts. This objective will focus on effector candidates in common between different tree pathogenic Phytophthoras.This research links with ongoing collaborative exchanges with New Zealand Phytophthora research laboratories, and there is scope for inter-lab travel during the PhD project. Many of these emerging disease threats are shared with New Zealand.The project will provide training in a range of laboratory skills and techniques, including molecular biology, microbiology, plant transformation, cutting-edge microscopy, and cell biology. The student will be supported to present their work and encouraged to follow the literature and contribute to research discussions. Our group is collegiate, supportive, and covers a broad range of experience.

树木提供了许多生态系统效益，包括土壤健康，庇护所和食物。植树常常被提议作为一种方法来隔离大气中的二氧化碳，从而减缓气候变化。作为长寿的生物，树木在其一生中受到疾病的威胁，有可能限制其碳捕获潜力。疫霉属（Phytophthora）是植物病原体的破坏性属，在树木的病原体中普遍存在。这些病原体是新出现的威胁，由于人类活动和气候变化而变得更加普遍。由不同疫霉属物种引起的树木疾病的外在症状可能非常相似，但我们对每个物种在树木中定植和引起疾病时所使用的潜在机制的了解是基本的。深入了解疫霉对树木的感染对确定培育抗病能力的育种计划是否可行至关重要。本项目可以遵循三条研究路线：1.我们能够遗传转化疫霉属物种以表达荧光标记物。在这个目标中的目的是产生不同的树病原疫霉属物种的标记菌株，并遵循在模式植物本氏烟草和天然树宿主中的根、茎和叶组织的感染。共聚焦或超分辨率显微镜可用于确定这些病原体如何随着感染进展进入和退出不同的组织类型。毒力蛋白（称为效应子）在树木病害中的作用在很大程度上是未知的，特别是当病原体定植在木质组织中时。将使用分泌到植物维管组织中的疫霉蛋白质的蛋白质组学分析来揭示不同疫霉属物种在树木定殖中共同/不同的候选效应子。候选效应蛋白可以使用CRISPR-Cas沉默或敲除，以确定它们对树宿主中不同组织类型的疫霉感染的重要性。该目标将侧重于不同树木致病疫霉之间的共同效应候选人。该研究与新西兰疫霉研究实验室正在进行的合作交流联系起来，并且在博士项目期间有实验室间旅行的范围。该项目将提供一系列实验室技能和技术的培训，包括分子生物学、微生物学、植物转化、尖端显微镜和细胞生物学。学生将得到支持，介绍他们的工作，并鼓励遵循文献，并有助于研究讨论。我们的团队是学院，支持，并涵盖了广泛的经验。