CAREER: What is Behind the Worldwide Success of Pseudomonas Syringae Pv. Tomato: a Comparative Evolutionary Genomics investigation

当涉及到病原体对人类、农场动物或作物的专门化时，生物体适应新生态位的能力成为我们社会的主要关注点。 很少有人知道如何植物病原体，这是适应自然混合植物群落在农业时代之前，演变成今天的高度侵略性病原体的作物栽培在单一栽培。 为了填补这一空白，该项目旨在确定分子进化机制，使病原体专门针对特定的植物物种，并变得更具侵略性。 细菌性植物病原菌假单胞菌pv.番茄（全球番茄细菌性斑点病的原因）和密切相关的细菌，将是这个项目的重点。 比较进化基因组学，群体遗传学和微生物遗传学的多学科方法将利用生物科学和计算机科学的最新进展。 研究和教育将通过开发和教授“微生物基因组学和法医学”本科课程以及为本科生在主要研究者实验室和生物技术行业创造实习机会来整合。 预计该项目将揭示发生在P. pueringae pv中的基因组变化。自农业出现以来，番茄在其进化过程中一直受到影响，并导致其目前的侵略性和全球分布。 这项研究的结果预计将构成一般细菌病原体进化的新假说的发展基础，并有助于未来抗病作物的育种和工程。 将通过一个可上网查阅的数据库，方便查阅所获得的结果。 在主要研究者的实验室，本科课程和与行业的合作研究不仅会吸引学生进行研究和提供先进的培训，但也给学生的代表性不足的群体有机会启动他们的职业生涯。

The ability of organisms to adapt to new niches becomes a primary concern to our society when it involves the specialization of pathogens to humans, farm animals or crops. Little is known about how plant pathogens, which were adapted to natural mixed-plant communities in pre-agricultural times, evolved into today's highly aggressive pathogens of crops cultivated in monoculture. To fill this void, this project aims at identifying the molecular evolutionary mechanisms that allow pathogens to specialize to specific plant species and to become more aggressive. The bacterial plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (the cause of bacterial speck disease of tomato worldwide) and closely related bacteria, will be the focus of this project. A multidisciplinary approach of comparative evolutionary genomics, population genetics, and microbial genetics will be applied leveraging the latest advances in biological sciences and computer sciences. Research and education will be integrated through the development and teaching of an undergraduate course in 'Microbial Genomics and Forensics' and the creation of internship opportunities for undergraduates in the principal investigator's lab and in the biotechnology industry. It is anticipated that this project will uncover genomic changes that occurred in P. syringae pv. tomato during its evolution since the advent of agriculture and that have led to its current aggressiveness and worldwide distribution. Results from this research are expected to constitute the basis for the development of new hypotheses on the evolution of bacterial pathogens in general and to be instrumental in future breeding and engineering of disease resistant crops. Easy access to obtained results will be provided through a web-accessible database. The research in the principal investigator's lab, the undergraduate course and the collaboration with industry will not only attract students to research and provide advanced training, but also give students of underrepresented groups the opportunity to jump-start their professional careers.