Understanding host plant susceptibility and resistance by indexing and deploying obligate pathogen effectors

病害在农作物中造成重大的产量损失。霜霉病及其亲缘关系代表了一大类病原体，其中一种是马铃薯枯萎病，它是爱尔兰马铃薯饥荒的病原体。我们的目标是了解这些病原体是如何攻击寄主植物的，以及植物用来保护自己的机制。霜霉病是分子模式植物拟南芥的天然病原菌。我们最近鉴定了一组病原体蛋白，称为效应器，它们触发宿主抗性，并在抑制宿主抗性方面发挥作用。我们现在能够在霜霉病的所有基因中识别潜在的效应基因。因此，在这个项目中，我们将分离大量的效应基因，并利用它们来了解它们是如何改变寄主植物以允许病原体生长的。通过这种方式，我们确定了在抗性中起重要作用的宿主蛋白。通过了解疾病和抗性之间的这种复杂的平衡，我们将揭示寄主和病原体之间相互作用的关键成分，我们将在未来设计出保护田间作物的遗传或化学方法。

Diseases cause significant yield losses in crop plants. The downy mildews and their close relations represent a major group of pathogens, one of which is potato blight, the causal agent of the Irish Potato Famine. We aim to understand how these pathogens attack their host plants and the mechanisms used by plants to defend themselves. A downy mildew, Hyaloperonospora parasitica, is a natural pathogen of the molecular model plant Arabidopsis. We have recently identified a group of pathogen proteins, called effectors, that trigger host resistance and also play a role in suppressing host resistance. We are now able to recognise potential effector genes amongst all the genes of the downy mildew. So in this project we will isolate a large number of the effector genes and use them to understand how they alter their host plant to allow growth of the pathogen. In this way we identify host proteins that are important in resistance. By understanding this complex balance between disease and resistance we will reveal key components of the interactin between host and pathogen we will, in the future, design genetic or chemical approaches that protect crop plants in the field.