Genetic and biochemical bases of fungal nonself recognition

真菌非自识别的遗传和生化基础

• 批准号: 183955-2009
• 负责人: Smith, Myron
• 金额: $ 5.17万
• 依托单位: Carleton University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2012-01-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=513958
• 关键词: Genetic; biochemical; bases; fungal; nonself

My NSERC Program investigates the biochemical and genetic bases of nonself recognition in fungi, a process that is analogous to graft rejection in animals and plants. Similar to "more complex organisms", fungi use nonself recognition systems to slow or prevent disease transmission (and thus thwart biological control programs), and to modulate intra- and interspecies interactions, including interactions involved in the maintenance of territory. At the biochemical level, our research will investigate how nonself recognition proteins interact to trigger a phenomenon called Programmed Cell Death (PCD). PCD is one way that organisms limit their own proliferation, and thus understanding this process has applications in diverse areas such as in developing control strategies for pathogens of plants and animals. We have evidence that nonself recognition proteins trigger PCD by sticking together to form a toxic complex, and that protein degradation can rid the cell of such complexes. Similar protein degradation processes are central to diseases associated with prion-like elements such as Huntington's and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, "Mad Cow Disease"). At the genetic level we will clone and characterize additional nonself recognition genes to gain an understanding of the diversity of factors that fungi use for nonself recognition. Finally, we will determine how naturally occurring viruses manipulate nonself recognition systems to gain access to their fungal host. Our exploration of the interaction between viruses and incompatibility factors is relevant to diverse areas of host - parasite interactions and may lead to improved biological control strategies for plant pathogens. Overall, the proposed research into nonself recognition will significantly enhance our understanding of this basic biological phenomenon and will provide advanced training to students in a variety of highly desirable fields such as genetics, microbiology and biochemistry.

我的NSERC项目研究真菌非自我识别的生化和遗传基础，这一过程类似于动物和植物的移植排斥反应。与“更复杂的生物”类似，真菌使用非自我识别系统来减缓或防止疾病传播（从而阻碍生物控制程序），并调节物种内和物种间的相互作用，包括涉及维护领土的相互作用。在生化水平上，我们的研究将探讨非自我识别蛋白如何相互作用以触发一种称为程序性细胞死亡（PCD）的现象。PCD是生物体限制自身增殖的一种方式，因此了解这一过程在许多领域都有应用，例如制定植物和动物病原体的控制策略。我们有证据表明，非自我识别蛋白质通过粘在一起形成有毒复合物而触发PCD，蛋白质降解可以清除细胞中的这种复合物。类似的蛋白质降解过程是与朊病毒样因子相关的疾病的核心，如亨廷顿舞蹈症和牛海绵状脑病（疯牛病）。在遗传水平上，我们将克隆和表征额外的非自我识别基因，以了解真菌用于非自我识别的因素的多样性。最后，我们将确定自然发生的病毒如何操纵非自我识别系统，以获得进入其真菌宿主。我们对病毒与不亲和因子之间相互作用的探索与宿主-寄生虫相互作用的不同领域有关，并可能导致改进植物病原体的生物控制策略。总的来说，对非自我识别的研究将大大提高我们对这一基本生物现象的理解，并将为学生提供遗传学、微生物学和生物化学等各种热门领域的高级培训。