Project Number: 3602-22000-013-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Nov 06, 2002
End Date: Oct 31, 2007

Objective:
Identify plant genes expressed during fungal infection of cereal leaf tissue and assess the function of selected genes; determine mechanisms of pathogenicity deployed by fungal foliar pathogens of cereals; identify and determine chromosomal location of sources of resistance to fungal pathogens of cereals; determine the evolutionary relationships among cereal pathogens in relation to their hosts; develop bioinformatics strategies for database construction and management to support wheat genome research.

Approach:
Patterns of gene expression in resistant and susceptible lines of maize and wheat will be determined with microarrays composed primarily of cDNAs identified from a database of ESTs and from subtractive suppressive hybridization libraries. Involvement of phytotoxins and peptides in fungal pathogenesis will be determined by transformation and gene disruption methods, and mutants will be analyzed for host genotype specific virulence. The number and chromosomal locations of genes fro resistance to fungal pathogens will be determined by employing a variety of PCR-based, molecular methods. Phylogenetic analyses of fungal cereal pathogens will be compared with phylogenies of the host plants to test the hypothesis of host-pathogen co-evolution. BSL-2; Recertified through August 31, 2005.

Project Team

Dunkle, Larry Crane, Charles Goodwin, Stephen

Project Annual Reports

FY 2003

Related National Programs

Plant Diseases (303)

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GENETICS OF RESISTANCE TO SEPTORIA TRITICI BLOTCH IN WHEAT