Metabolic determinants in the interaction of biotrophic and hemibiotrophic fungi with cereals

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Uwe Sonnewald
• Subject Area: Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems ; Plant Breeding and Plant Pathology
• Term: from 2006 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 15847441

Major objective of project B6 is to unravel molecular determinants underlying the regulation of plant primary metabolism by fungal effectors. In addition the relevance of selected metabolic processes during compatible plant/pathogen interaction will be investigated in conditional dsRNAi barley knock-down lines (B3) and maize transformants (A2, B3). To gain insight into metabolic and molecular changes induced during plant-microbe interaction, interactions of Ustilago maydis, Blumeria graminis, Erysiphe cichoracearum, Colletotrichum graminicola and Piriformospora indica with their respective hosts will be studied on the physiological, metabolic and transcriptional level. Data collected will be deposited and managed in a central database (central experiment coordinated by B7). Subsequent data mining will allow identifying key-metabolites and transcripts involved in compatible plant-microbe interactions. The significance of these findings will be tested in transgenic plants altered in expression of candidate genes (B3) and in subsequent infection studies. To gain insight into possible fungal determinants required for the successful invasion of plants, U. maydis mutants (A2), unable to successfully infect their host plants, will be included in these studies.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 666: Mechanisms of Compatibility: Reprogramming of Plant Metabolism by Fungal Effector Molecules
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Lars Voll