Using an Autoimmune Model to Dissect Plant Immunity

使用自身免疫模型剖析植物免疫

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-05384
• 负责人: Li, Xin
• 金额: $ 4.3万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=657516
• 关键词: Using; Autoimmune; Model; Dissect; Plant

Proposal Summary ** One major contributing factor to losses in both crop yield and quality is disease caused by microbial pathogens. Every year, farmers around the globe spend billions of dollars on pesticides to save their crops, even though most chemicals are damaging to the environment and may lead to the evolution of pesticide-resistant pathogens. As such, the search for alternative control methods that are more sustainable and environmentally safe is ongoing. One alternative approach is to breed for crops with a variety of resistance (R) genes, which encode R proteins that trigger strong defense responses upon pathogen recognition. Despite R protein-mediated resistance being very effective against many pathogens, its molecular mechanism remains unclear. The long-term goal of my lab is to understand R protein-mediated plant immunity at the molecular level and use the knowledge to develop methods for sustainable crop protection. ** During the past decade, my group has discovered a number of critical regulators that function in the plant immune system. We showed that nucleocytoplasmic trafficking, transcriptional regulation, protein modifications and RNA processing all play important roles in the regulation of R protein-mediated immunity. Moving forward, we will use multidisciplinary approaches in molecular genetics, biochemistry, chemistry, and genomics to identify key missing players, both positive and negative regulators, in plant immunity and elucidate how these components function together to mount proper defense responses upon pathogen attack. The proposed research will not only enrich our current understanding of how plants defend themselves against microbial pathogens, but also provide insight into how to design novel strategies to protect the crops in our fields. ** Finally, mammalian innate immunity has been shown to share remarkable similarity to plant disease resistance mechanisms. Some regulators of plant immunity we are currently studying have close homologs in mammals whose functions are unclear. Our proposed studies to reveal the biochemical functions of these proteins will shed light on how these proteins function in animals. Thus our proposed research may also have potential health benefits to human society.

提案摘要**造成农作物产量和质量损失的一个主要因素是由微生物病原体引起的疾病。每年，全球的农民花费数十亿美元在农药上节省农作物，即使大多数化学物质都损害了环境，并可能导致抗农药的病原体的演变。因此，正在寻找更可持续和环境安全的替代控制方法。一种替代方法是繁殖具有多种耐药性（R）基因的农作物，该农作物编码R蛋白，这些蛋白会引发病原体识别的强烈防御反应。尽管R蛋白介导的抗性对许多病原体非常有效，但其分子机制仍不清楚。我实验室的长期目标是了解R蛋白质介导的分子水平上的植物免疫，并利用知识来开发可持续作物保护的方法。 **在过去的十年中，我的小组发现了许多在植物免疫系统中起作用的关键调节剂。 我们表明，核细胞流量，转录调控，蛋白质修饰和RNA处理在R蛋白介导的免疫的调节中都起着重要作用。向前迈进，我们将在分子遗传学，生物化学，化学和基因组学方面使用多学科方法来识别植物免疫的主要缺失参与者，无论是阳性和负调节剂，并阐明这些成分如何共同发挥对病原体攻击的适当防御反应。拟议的研究不仅会丰富我们当前对植物如何捍卫自己免受微生物病原体的理解，而且还可以洞悉如何设计新型策略来保护我们领域的农作物。 **最后，已证明哺乳动物的先天免疫与植物抗病机制具有显着的相似性。我们目前正在研究的一些植物免疫调节剂在功能尚不清楚的哺乳动物中具有密切的同源物。我们提出的研究揭示了这些蛋白质的生化功能，将阐明这些蛋白质在动物中的作用。因此，我们提出的研究也可能对人类社会具有潜在的健康益处。