investigating the role of TOR kinase in the rice blast fungus

稻瘟病是影响全世界水稻种植的最严重的疾病之一，每年摧毁足够养活6000万人的水稻。该疾病是由真菌Magnaporthe（Syn.稻瘟病菌（Pyricularia）也威胁小麦和小米的生产，特别影响亚洲和非洲。为了引起植物感染，稻瘟病菌发展了一种称为附着胞的专门感染结构，它产生巨大的压力，施加在叶片表面作为物理力，使水稻角质层破裂，并允许真菌感染叶片组织。了解附着胞的发育和功能为通过预防稻瘟病的初始侵染来防治稻瘟病提供了一种潜在的手段。附着胞的发育需要真菌孢子的程序性细胞死亡和其内容物再循环到感染细胞中。这个过程需要自噬，并与细胞周期控制紧密耦合。该项目将研究TOR激酶对植物感染的控制，TOR激酶是一种营养敏感的细胞生长中央控制器。TOR与许多人类疾病有关，并且是雷帕霉素（一种具有许多治疗用途的药物）的靶点。然而，它在真菌发病机制中的作用还不清楚。该项目将在M.因此，研究其激活和调控，确定其下游磷酸化蛋白靶点，以及其控制感染相关自噬的能力，这对稻瘟病至关重要。

Rice blast disease is one of the most serious diseases affecting rice cultivation around the world, destroying enough rice each year to feed 60 million people. The disease is caused by the fungus Magnaporthe (Syn. Pyricularia) oryzae, which also threatens wheat and millet production, affecting Asia and Africa in particular.To cause plant infection, the rice blast fungus develops a specialised infection structure called an appressorium, which develops enormous pressure that is applied at the leaf surface as physical force to rupture the rice cuticle and allow the fungus to infect leaf tissue. Understanding how appressoria develop and function provides a potential means to combat rice blast disease by preventing initial infection. Appressorium development requires programmed cell death of the fungal spore and recycling of its contents into the infection cell. This process requires autophagy and is tightly coupled to cell cycle control.The project will investigate the control of plant infection by TOR kinase, a nutrient-sensitive central controller of cell growth. TOR is implicated in many human diseases and is the target of rapamycin, a drug with many therapeutic uses. Its role in fungal pathogenesis is, however, not well understood. The project will characterise TOR kinase in M. oryzae, investigate its activation and regulatory control, identify its downstream phosphorylated protein targets, as well as its ability to control infection-associated autophagy, which is essential for rice blast disease.