Understanding the origin and evolutionary history of plant immunity

化石记录表明，丝状微生物在4.5亿年前侵入了具有细胞内菌丝结构的古老植物细胞。直到今天，丰富多样的现存陆地植物类群继续被有害和有益的微生物殖民，但我们的大部分知识都集中在开花植物的进化年轻的被子植物谱系上。为了更好地了解亲缘关系远的陆地植物如何抵御病原体感染，研究小组研究了控制地钱模型抗病性的分子遗传机制。特别是，专注于与真菌样丝状卵菌属于Phytophthora属植物病原体的相互作用，这提供了一个独特的平台，以比较宿主对感染的反应在远亲的陆地植物谱系。本项目的目标是调查的起源和进化历史的非宿主抗性策略，保护模式苔M。polymorpha从Phytophthora感染利用比较宏观进化，分子遗传学和多组学方法，植物防御的广泛保守和谱系特异性方面将被探索，最终将为未来保护作物免受有害病原体侵害的努力提供信息。

The fossil record demonstrates that filamentous microbes invaded ancient plant cells with intracellular hyphal structures over 450 million years ago. To this day, a rich diversity of extant land plant taxa continues to be colonized by detrimental and beneficial microbes, yet much of our knowledge has focused on the evolutionarily young angiosperm lineage of flowering plants. To better understand how distantly-related land plants defend themselves against pathogen infection, the research group investigates the molecular genetic mechanisms controlling disease resistance in the model liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. In particular, focusing on interactions with fungus-like filamentous oomycete phytopathogens belonging to the genus Phytophthora, which provide a unique platform to compare host responses to infection across distantly-related land plant lineages.The goal of this project is to investigate the origin and evolutionary history of nonhost resistance strategies that protect the model liverwort M. polymorpha from Phytophthora infection. Using comparative macroevolutionary, molecular genetic, and multi-omics approaches, widely-conserved and lineage-specific aspects of plant defence will be explored that will ultimately inform future efforts to protect crops from harmful pathogens.