EAPSI: Organization and Flow of Components Involved in Growth and Disease Development in Fungi

真菌是农作物最重要的经济病原菌。特别是稻瘟病每年在全世界造成近50亿美元的损失。中国是疫情中心，正在投入大量资源抗击疫情。导致这种疾病的真菌以一种尚不完全清楚的精确方式渗透并定居在水稻上。该项目将使用高分辨率显微镜检查生长中的真菌细胞以及稻瘟病病原体的感染结构中蛋白质和其他分子是如何动态组织的，这将为未来所有真菌感染的治疗提供见解。它将在中国福建省福州市福州农林大学王宗华博士的实验室进行，并将有助于在主办者和提案人之间建立永久合作关系。基于共同研究目标的美国机构。真菌，包括植物和动物的病原体，通常通过在其尖端生长的线状细胞的生产来定植，是细胞生长的极好模型。近年来，遗传和活细胞显微镜技术已经融合在一起，可以仔细测量亚细胞成分的运动。该项目将在基础细胞生物学和分子植物病理学之间建立桥梁，以观察真菌细胞中蛋白质和脂质的流动。具体来说，已知至少存在两种支持真菌生长和致病性的独立分泌途径，为了检查这些途径的差异动力学，将对每种途径的代表性蛋白质进行光漂白实验。此外，我们将利用荧光标记在稻瘟病菌的感染结构中追踪一种已知与真菌生长发育有关的特定脂质，以进一步研究表明这种脂质的分布可能对这种生物体的感染过程至关重要。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会EAPSI与中国科技部合作资助，支持一名美国研究生的研究。

Fungi are the most economically important pathogens of crops. In particular, the rice blast disease results in losses of nearly $5 billion each year worldwide. China is the epicenter of this disease, and is investing many resources to combat it. The fungus that causes this disease penetrates and colonizes rice in a precise way that is not quite understood. This project will use high resolution microscopy to examine how proteins and other molecules are dynamically organized in growing fungal cells as well as in the infection structures of the rice blast pathogen, which will provide insight into future treatments of all fungal infections. It will be carried out in the laboratory of Dr. Zonghua Wang at the Fuzhou Agricultural & Forestry University in Fuzhou, Fujian, China, and will assist in developing a permanent collaboration between the host and the proposer?s institutions based on shared research goals. Fungi, including pathogens of plants and animals, generally colonize through the production of threadlike cells that grow at their tips, and are excellent models of cell growth. In recent years, genetic and live-cell microscopy techniques have converged to allow careful measurements of the movement of subcellular components. This project will bridge basic cell biology and molecular plant pathology to view the flow of proteins and lipids in fungal cells. Specifically, it is known that at least two separate secretory pathways exist that support fungal growth and pathogenicity, and to examine the differential dynamics of these pathways, photobleaching experiments will be performed on representative proteins from each route. Additionally, a specific lipid known to be involved in growth and development of fungi will be tracked, using a fluorescent marker, in infection structures of the rice blast pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae, to further previous research indicating that the distribution of this lipid may be crucial for the infection process of this organism. This NSF EAPSI award supports the research of a U.S. graduate student and is funded in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.