Plant immunity to fungal and bacterial pathogens

Plant diseases, for example the fungal rust diseases of wheat, are major limiters and dangerous threats to global food security. Genetic based resistance, although frequently inadequate, is currently used to protect crop production. We will use next-generation genome sequencing methods to investigate the basis of virulence of the wheat stripe rust pathogen Puccinia striiformis f.sp. tritici. We will also develop tools using plant-bacterial pathogen models to identify the host targets of several bacterial virulence proteins. The results of these projects will provide new strategies for engineering enhanced disease resistance to crop pathogens.