Deciphering the molecular interaction between tomato and Fusarium oxysporum

Fungal pathogens of crop plants are a major cause of lost food production and a critical concern for global food security. The fungus Fusarium oxysporum is ranked fifth among the top ten most notorious fungal pathogens of crop plants. This project will use the tomatoFusarium oxysporum pathosystem to discover how Fusarium manipulates plants to promote infection and how plants can deliver effective resistance to Fusarium infection. It aims to identify and study host proteins manipulated by Fusarium and those responsible for delivering Fusarium resistance. It also aims to reduce yield loss in tomato and potentially other crop plants by using genome-editing techniques to target the corresponding genes and develop Fusarium-resistant cultivars.