Molecular mechanisms underlying plant-pathogen arms race

到2050年，人类人口预计将达到97亿，养活快速增长的人口的挑战迫在眉睫，受到植物病原体的威胁，估计每年造成13%的作物产量损失。虽然与疾病作斗争对可持续农业和全球粮食安全至关重要，但开发具有持久抗性的作物需要深入了解植物宿主和病原体之间动态相互作用的基本分子机制。解开这些机制的一个主要方法是研究病原体效应子，它们是可以直接操纵宿主免疫的关键毒力蛋白。植物已经进化出一种复杂的免疫系统，足以保护它们免受周围环境中绝大多数潜在病原体的侵害。然而，成功的病原体产生效应物来击败宿主免疫。了解效应子如何使植物对病原体敏感，为深入了解宿主-病原体相互作用的基本原理提供了必要的知识。这些知识是制定可持续疾病控制战略的关键。本项目将利用假单胞菌-拟南芥致病系统模型来研究植物免疫中一个新出现的方面，即烟酰胺腺嘌呤二核苷酸（NAD+）的代谢。作为一种重要的代谢和氧化还原剂，NAD+的特异性切割最近被证明是免疫信号激活过程中的一个重要过程。遗传学、分子生物学和生物化学方法的结合将用于推进我们对植物免疫这一新前沿的理解。

With the human population projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, the looming challenge of feeding the rapidly growing population is threatened by plant pathogens, which cause an estimated 13% loss in crop yield each year. While battling diseases is essential for sustainable agriculture and global food security, developing crops with durable resistance requires a deep understanding of the basic molecular mechanisms that underlie the dynamic interactions between plant hosts and pathogens. A major approach to unravel these mechanisms is to study pathogen effectors, which are key virulence proteins that can directly manipulate host immunity. Plants have evolved a sophisticated immune system that is robust enough to protect them from the vast majority of potential pathogens in the surrounding environment. However, successful pathogens produce effectors to defeat host immunity. Understanding how effectors render plants susceptible to pathogens provides essential insight into the fundamental principles of host-pathogen interactions. This knowledge is key towards establishing sustainable disease control strategies. This project will employ the model Pseudomonas syringae-Arabidopsis thaliana pathosystem to investigate a newly emerged aspect in plant immunity, which is centered on the metabolism of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). As an important metabolic and redox agent, specific cleavage of NAD+ has recently been shown to be an important process during the activation of immune signalling. A combination of genetics, molecular biology, and biochemical approaches will be used to advance our understanding of this new frontier in plant immunity.