Student of the Month (October 2008)
Name: Ryan Anderson (andersrg at vt.edu)
Research project: Characterizing conserved effector proteins from the oömycete Hyaloperonospora parasitica
Advisor: John McDowell
Departmental affiliation: PPWS
Anticipated defense date: 2011
Project description:
Posters at international meetings:
Publications:
Many types of plant pathogens secrete effector proteins to the inside of the host cells, where they interact with host proteins to promote disease. Effector proteins from bacterial pathogens have been studied in detail. In contrast, very little is known about effector proteins from eukaryotic plant pathogens such as oömycetes. It is thought that oömycetes utilize effectors to suppress defenses and/or reprogram metabolic pathways. O?mycete effectors carry a host targeting (HT) sequence that is required for translocation into the host cell. It is predicted that oömycetes secrete hundreds of divergent effectors, based on bioinformatic analyses of the sequenced genomes of oömycete pathogens. However, the functions of these effectors are currently unknown. We are using the interaction between the model plant Arabidopsis and its downy mildew pathogen Hyaloperonospora parasitica (H.p.) to investigate how plant cells are manipulated by oömycete effectors. The goal of my research is to investigate the function of effector genes that are conserved between H. parasitica and distantly related oömycetes in the Phytophthora genus. This project is expected to increase understanding of molecular mechanisms that enable oömycete pathogens to cause destructive diseases. We expect that a focus on conserved effectors will reveal virulence functions that are important for all oömycete plant pathogens.