Research Associate: Plant-fungal interactions

Symbioses have been fundamental to colonization of terrestrial ecosystems by plants and their evolution. Emergence of the ancient arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis was followed by the diversification o...

Mycelium of phytophthora palmivora, which can give rise to cacao black pod disease, grows from an agar plug, infecting a cacao leaf 48 hours after inoculation. Credit: Mark Guiltinan/Penn State In a development that could help protect one of the world's most beloved agricultural commodities, a research team at Penn State has successfully created disease-resistant cacao plants using gene-editing technology. According to the researchers, the innovation promises to help resolve a significant problem for the global chocolate industry, worth more than $135 billion annually, which faces threat from the phytophthora species, a fungal-like pathogen that gives rise to the destructive black pod disease that can cause yield losses of up to…

  Ronald Marihot, petani dari Suku Karubi, di Desa Ka’ana, Kecamatan Enggano, Kabupaten Bengkulu Utara, Bengkulu, memandang getir pohon kakao (Theobroma cacao) di kebunnya. Buahnya hitam dan keras, tidak laku dijual. Lima tahun lalu, kakao warisan orang tuanya itu masih dipanen maksimal. Dari 400-500 batang pohon, Ronald bisa memetik satu kuintal tiap dua minggu. Hasil […]

Land plants include angiosperms, gymnosperms, bryophytes, lycophytes, and ferns, each of which may deploy distinct strategies to resist pathogens. Here, we investigate fern-pathogen interactions by characterizing novel pathosystems and analyzing the diversity of fern immune receptors. A collection of fern species was inoculated with a diverse set of filamentous microbes, and disease symptoms were assessed. We further leveraged published genome mining tools to analyse the diversity of receptor-like kinases, receptor-like proteins (RLKs/RLPs) and nucleotide-binding and leucine-rich repeats (NLRs), along with key immune signalling components, in ferns. Our results reveal that ferns exhibit a range of responses to pathogens, including putative non-host resistance and more specific resistance mechanisms. Among ten ferns tested, Pteris vittata displays the broadest spectrum of pathogen compatibility. Genome mining indicates that ferns encode a diverse repertoire of putative immune receptors, antimicrobial peptides, and mediators of systemic acquired resistance. Ferns possess numerous RLKs/RLPs, resembling those required for cell-surface immunity in angiosperms. They also encode diverse NLRs, including sub-families lost in flowering plants. These findings provide insights into disease resistance evolution and open promising perspectives for crop protection strategies.

The Board of Electors to the Russell R. Geiger Professorship of Crop Science invite applications for this Professorship from persons whose work falls within the general field of the Professorship to

Parasite-adaptive manipulation of behavior is a widespread natural phenomenon. While Ophiocordyceps zombie fungi are well-known for hijacking ant behavior to increase their fitness, functionally chara...

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