Early stages of pathogenesis in plant pathogenic fungi

在植物病原真菌与寄主的相互作用中，早期事件(孢子萌发、附着、穿透)对病害的发展起着至关重要的作用。在目前的项目期间，我们在两种不同感染策略的真菌中研究了对这些早期阶段至关重要的过程。我们研究的主要发现涉及信号级联及其组件、小GTP酶、PCD和早期感染特异性基因在疾病建立中的作用。其中大部分发现是利用过去几年开发的新基因组工具在灰霉病菌上获得的。在这最后的延伸中，灰霉病菌早期感染的分子和生理原理将被破解。将涉及三个主要主题：i)小GTP酶的作用；ii)控制细胞凋亡和特定的凋亡基因的信号级联；以及iii)在疾病建立的早期阶段仅在植物中表达的芽孢杆菌特异基因。这些目标是根据当前授权期内取得的成果得出的。将研究延长两年将使我们能够完成这项研究，并对成功感染这种重要植物病原体所需的关键事件和分子元件有更深入的了解。我们预计，新的结果将成为发展替代疾病控制系统的基础。

In the interaction of phytopathogenic fungi and their hosts the early events (spore germination, adhesion, penetration) are crucial for the development of disease. In the current project period we studied processes that are important for these early stages in two fungi with different infection strategies. The main findings of our study relate to the role of signalling cascades and their components, small GTPases, PCD and early infection-specific genes in disease establishment. Most of these findings were obtained in Botrytis cinerea using the new genomic tools that have been developed in the past few years. In this final prolongation the molecular and physiological principles of early infection in B. cinerea will be cracked down. Three main topics will be covered: detailed analysis of i) the role of small GTPases, ii) the signalling cascades that control apoptosis and of specific apoptotic genes, and iii) of Botrytis specific genes that are expressed exclusively in planta during the early stage of disease establishment. These targets are derived from results obtained during the current granting period. Extending the research by two more years will allow us to complete the study and to obtain deeper understanding of the key events and the molecular elements that are necessary for successful infection by this important plant pathogen. We expect that the new results will constitute a basis for the development of alternative disease control systems.