Molecular characterization of the poplar-rust interaction

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With their long life cycle, trees have developed distinct defense mechanisms allowing their long term survival. Forest pests can have adverse effects on tree growth and survival, yield and quality of wood, as well as wildlife habitat, resulting in either direct or indirect economic and environmental losses. In fact, the importance of pests and their negative impacts on forests (natural and planted) has been mainly understated. More recently, insect and disease movement has also been facilitated by the increased international trade of agricultural and forest products. Global climate change could also increase the occurrence and severity of pest outbreaks. The study of host-pathogen interactions in forest tree species has been limited primarily due to the lack of clearly defined biological systems. However, poplar-rust interactions have been relatively well documented. Poplar has become the model tree species for genomics research due to its extensive genetic resources, rapid early growth, ease of clonal propagation, and routine transformation protocols ( http://www.ornl.gov/sci/ipgc/). The sequence of its genome has also been recently completed. In addition, genomes of a cortege of associated microorganisms are being sequenced including the first tree pathogen, Melampsora poplar rust. During the last few years of this proposal we have developed a portfolio of genes induced during the defense response and have recently produced cDNA libraries of compatible and incompatible host-pathogen interactions in the poplar-rust pathosystem. We are planning to build upon this expertise to target functional and evolutionary analyses taking advantage of unique poplar-rust interaction systems. This will allow us to identify genes and expression profiles characteristic of these contrasting interactions and to identify genes that may be essential in host-pathogen recognition.