Effector evolution in plant pathogens

预计到2050年，全球人口将达到97亿，养活快速增长的人口这一迫在眉睫的挑战受到植物病原体的威胁，这些病原体每年都会造成作物产量的重大损失。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，但发展持久的抗性需要深入了解植物与病原体之间动态共同进化的分子机制。宿主-病原体军备竞赛的一个标志是病原体效应物的加速进化。植物进化出了复杂的免疫系统，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蛋白来击败宿主免疫并为疾病发展创造合适的环境。了解效应器如何使植物易感，阐明病原体利用效应器库促进快速进化的机制，将为了解发病机制的基本原理提供重要的见解。这方面的知识对于制定可持续的疾病控制战略至关重要。聚焦于毁灭性的植物病原体疫霉，本项目将研究效应蛋白的模块化结构如何促进效应蛋白库中的功能多样化，从而产生新的宿主操纵活动。结合遗传学、生物化学、生物信息学、分子生物学和蛋白质结构分析的创新蛋白质组学方法将被用于推进对宿主-病原体共同进化这一重要方面的基本理解。

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 significant losses in crop yield each year. While battling diseases is essential for sustainable agriculture and global food security, developing durable resistance requires a deep understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie the dynamic co-evolution between plants and pathogens.A hallmark of host-pathogen arms race is the accelerated evolution of pathogen effectors. Plants have evolved a sophisticated immune system that protects them from the vast majority of potential pathogens in the surrounding environment. However, successful pathogens produce effector proteins to defeat host immunity and create a suitable environment for disease development. Understanding how effectors render plants susceptible and elucidating the mechanisms utilized by pathogens to facilitate rapid evolution in their effector repertoire will offer important insight into the fundamental principles of pathogenesis. This knowledge is essential in establishing sustainable disease control strategies.Focusing on the devastating plant pathogen Phytophthora, this project will investigate how modular architecture of effector proteins facilitate functional diversification in an effector repertoire through which new activities of host manipulation could arise. Innovative proteomic approaches in combination with genetics, biochemistry, bioinformatics, molecular biology, and protein structure analyses will be employed to advance a fundamental understanding of this important aspect of host-pathogen co-evolution.