Discovering the molecular and proteomic interactions between genus-specific mycoparasites and fungal plant-pathogens

在农业和林业领域，化学杀虫剂和转基因植物引发了公众的担忧。一种解决办法是采用生物防治手段来管理植物疾病的暴发，同时保护环境和食品安全。该计划提供了新的途径，创造独特的和更有效的加拿大生物杀虫剂，以防治镰刀菌植物病原体及其真菌毒素，基于球孢霉真菌寄生生物寄生-一个新的物种，由本实验室最近发现。虽然基于SSU和LSU rDNA的平行系统发育分析表明，一组真菌寄生球孢菌科物种是从非真菌寄生祖先进化而来的，但没有明确的证据表明，已知的球孢子菌科(子囊菌目，黑孢子目)与它们的镰刀菌(子囊菌目，下甲菌目)宿主之间存在共同进化或同种关系。卷积驱动因子(S)以及真菌-真菌在整个真菌致病过程中的相互作用需要澄清。具体目标是通过评估镰刀菌疏水性、胞外和胞内生物分子的作用来了解生物营养型真菌寄生虫的进化和专化；发现真菌寄生虫致病相关的基因和蛋白质；以及表征与镰刀菌防御相关的基因表达，包括Tri和PKS基因。考虑到镰刀菌专属类群的亲缘关系，探索镰刀菌毒素的性质是否会造成进化压力，导致球孢菌科的专门化，将是一件有趣的事情。利用高通量分子、显微和蛋白质组学工具，结合培养依赖和非培养检测，我们将对镰刀菌属的生物营养真菌进行检测，以评估它们对镰刀菌病的发展和真菌毒素在天然样品中积累的影响。在概述的方案中，存在许多针对高素质人员的培训机会。该计划为加拿大的生物控制科学提供了一个新的维度：针对植物病原体的生物营养真菌寄生虫。

In agriculture and forestry, chemical pesticides and genetically engineered plants incite public concerns. A solution is the introduction of biological control means to manage outbreaks of plant diseases while protecting the environment and food safety. This program offers new avenues for the creation of unique and more efficacious, Canadian biopesticides against Fusarium plant pathogens and its mycotoxins based on Sphaerodes mycoparasitica biotrophic mycoparasite -a novel species recently discovered by this laboratory. Although parallel phylogenetic analyses based on SSU and LSU rDNA show evolution of a group of mycoparasitic Sphaerodes species from non-mycoparasitic ancestors, no clear evidence of coevolution, or cospeciation between known Sphaerodes (Ascomycetes, Melanosporales) and their Fusarium (Ascomycetes, Hypocreales) hosts has been described. The covolution driving factor(s) as well as fungus-fungus interaction throughout the mycopathogenic processes demand clarification. Specific goals are to understand i) the evolution and specialization of the biotrophic mycoparasite by assessing the role of Fusarium hydrophobic, extra- and intracellular biomolecules; to discover ii) the pathogenesis-related genes and proteins of the mycoparasite; and to characterize Fusarium defense-related gene expressions, including Tri and PKS genes. Considering the relatedness of Fusarium-specific Sphaerodes taxa, it would be interesting to explore whether the nature of fusaria toxins creates an evolutionary pressure inducing specialization within Sphaerodes. Using high-throughput molecular, microscopic, and proteomic tools with culture dependent and culture-independent assays, biotrophic mycoparasites of Fusarium species will be examined to assess their impact on Fusarium disease development and mycotoxin accumulation in natural samples. Numerous training opportunities for highly qualified personnel exist within the outlined program. The program offers a new dimension for the Canadian biocontrol science: biotrophic mycoparasites against plant pathogens.