Molecular mechanisms of signalling by plant immune receptors. This project aims to understand how resistance proteins function and to find new sources of these proteins. Plant diseases account for 15% loss of global crop production, representing a threat to food security. Fungicides, one key form of protection, represent environmental concerns. The other key form of protection corresponds to resistance gene breeding, which is limited by lengthy breeding processes, restricted choice of genes from ....Molecular mechanisms of signalling by plant immune receptors. This project aims to understand how resistance proteins function and to find new sources of these proteins. Plant diseases account for 15% loss of global crop production, representing a threat to food security. Fungicides, one key form of protection, represent environmental concerns. The other key form of protection corresponds to resistance gene breeding, which is limited by lengthy breeding processes, restricted choice of genes from sexually compatible species and short effective time spans in the field. Building on previous research, this project aims to characterise the molecular basis of the Toll/interleukin-1 receptor domain-mediated nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) cleavage and the structural architecture of plant NLR complexes. This knowledge will support the long-term objective of protecting crops from pathogens.Read moreRead less
Understanding the molecular function of plant disease resistance proteins, pathogen effectors and their interaction to protect Australian agriculture. This project aims to understand the processes that enable resistant plants to detect and respond to pathogen attack. The acquired knowledge will form the foundation for durable plant disease resistance measures that can be applied to a wide range of crop diseases in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Structural basis of plant immune receptor signaling. Plants detect invading pathogens and trigger immune responses in a process called “effector-triggered immunity”, in which pathogen effector (avirulence) proteins are recognized by plant resistance proteins, typically so-called “plant NLRs”. Ongoing work in the applicants’ laboratories has shown that oligomerization into “resistosomes” and NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) cleavage play central roles in the process. Building on these dat ....Structural basis of plant immune receptor signaling. Plants detect invading pathogens and trigger immune responses in a process called “effector-triggered immunity”, in which pathogen effector (avirulence) proteins are recognized by plant resistance proteins, typically so-called “plant NLRs”. Ongoing work in the applicants’ laboratories has shown that oligomerization into “resistosomes” and NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) cleavage play central roles in the process. Building on these data, the project aims to characterize the structures of the signaling molecules resulting from TIR (Toll/interleukin-1 receptor) domain-mediated NAD+ cleavage and the structural architecture of plant NLR resistosomes. This knowledge will support the long-term objective of protecting crops from pathogens.Read moreRead less