Monitoring maize and Ustilago maydis RNA and protein expression during tassel infections

玉米黑粉菌（Ustilago maydis）是一种侵染多种植物的真菌，但仅在玉米（Zea mays L.）感染会导致癌症吗 这种真菌在植物细胞外增殖，并通过预测的与玉米细胞相互作用的分泌蛋白来消除肿瘤。 到目前为止，植物-真菌相互作用已经使用真菌突变体进行了研究，并且对赋予肿瘤结果的玉米贡献知之甚少。 在这个项目中，玉米和黑粉菌基因表达的变化将在感染/癌症诱导的早期阶段进行监测，通过对每个伙伴表达的基因和新蛋白质的产生进行编目。 数据将从受感染的未成熟玉米雄穗（负责产生花粉的器官）中收集，因为它们容易被感染，并且在其他正常雄穗中具有缺陷花药的玉米突变体特异性地在花药组织中阻断肿瘤形成。 RNA和蛋白质的反应将进行分析，比较易感野生型花药的雄性不育突变体的肿瘤生长所需的玉米花药蛋白质的额外见解。 潜在的影响是一种新的方法来了解玉米花药发育的步骤，并通过扩展其他谷类作物，更好地了解病原体如何利用特定于一种器官类型的宿主特性。 长期目标是确定肿瘤诱发的各个步骤，使用与玉米受体结合以改变发育的真菌分子的生产作为工作模型。 由于谷类作物是美国和全球农业生产力的最重要贡献者，因此这些新知识对于作物改良和保护非常重要。 在该项目的过程中，博士后研究员将接受高通量质谱蛋白质鉴定的培训，这是一种适用于许多复杂生物学问题的新兴技术。

The fungal pathogen Ustilago maydis infects many plants, however, only in corn (Zea mays L.) does infection cause cancer. The fungus proliferates outside plant cells and elicits tumors through predicted secreted proteins that interact with maize cells. To date the plant-fungal interaction has been studied using fungal mutants and little is known about maize contributions that confer the tumor outcome. In this project changes in maize and Ustilago gene expression will be monitored during the early stages of infection/cancer induction by cataloguing the genes expressed and production of new proteins by each partner. Data will be collected from infected, immature maize tassels (the organ responsible for producing pollen), because they are readily infected and maize mutants with defective anthers in an otherwise normal tassel block tumor formation specifically in the anther tissues. RNA and protein responses will be analyzed comparing susceptible wild-type anthers to a male-sterile mutant for additional insight into the maize anther proteins required for tumor growth. The potential impacts are a novel approach to understanding steps in anther development in maize and by extension other cereal crops and better understanding of how pathogens exploit host properties that are specific to one organ type. The long-term aim is define the individual steps in tumor elicitation, using as a working model production of fungal molecules that bind to maize receptors to alter development. As cereal crops are the most important contributor to agricultural productivity in the US and worldwide, this new knowledge is important for crop improvement and protection. In the course of the project, a postdoctoral fellow will receive training in high throughput mass spectrometric protein identification, an emerging technology applicable to many complex biological problems.