Identification of novel virulence determinants in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae

Rice blast disease is one of the most serious diseases affecting rice cultivation around the world, destroying enough rice each year to feed 60 million people. The disease is caused by the fungus Magnaporthe (Syn. Pyricularia) oryzae, which also threatens wheat and millet production, affecting Asia and Africa in particular.

The principal aim of the project is to understand why fungal pathogens, such as Magnaporthe, lose virulence when they are maintained in culture away from their host plant and then to use this phenomenon to provide a novel means to identify virulence determinants, essential for disease

This project will investigate the genetic and epigenetic changes associated with prolonged sub-culture and compare these to propagation through plant infection. We will define the mechanisms associated with loss of virulence and use this information to identify novel potential virulence determinants. These will be characterised to determine their function.

The project will provide broad training in molecular genetics, genomics, cell biology, and plant-microbe interactions. Intellectually, the project provides a challenge in understanding genome organisation, evolution and the global regulation of virulence-associated gene functions in a plant pathogenic fungus.

References

Cruz-Mireles, N, Osés-Ruiz, M, Derbyshire, P, Jégousse, C, Ryder, LS, Bautista, MJ, Eseola, AB, Sklenar, J, Tang, B, Yan, X, Ma, W, Findlay, KC, Were, V, MacLean, D, Talbot, NJ, Menke, FLH (2024) The phosphorylation landscape of infection-related development by the rice blast fungus Cell 187: 2557-73

Ryder LS, Lopez, SG, Michels L, Eseola AB, Sprakel J, Ma W, Talbot NJ (2023) Real-time visualiszation of appressorium turgor using a molecular mechanosensor in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Nature Microbiology 8:1508-1519

Latorre SM, Were VM, Foster AJ, Langner T, Malmgren A, Harant A, Asuke S, Reyes-Avila S, Gupta DR, Jensen C, Ma W, Mahmud NU, Mehebub MS, Mulenga RM, Muzahid ANM, Paul SK, Rabby SMF, Rahat AAM, Ryder L, Shrestha RK, Sichilima S, Soanes DM, Singh PK, Bentley AR, Saunders DGO, Tosa Y, Croll D, Lamour KH, Islam T, Tembo B, Win J, Talbot NJ, Burbano HA, Kamoun S (2023). Genomic surveillance uncovers a pandemic clonal lineage of the wheat blast fungus. PLoS Biology. 21(4):e3002052.

Tang, B., Yan, X., Ryder, LS., Bautista, M-J., Cruz-Mireles, N., Soanes, DM., Molinari, C., Foster, AJ., Talbot NJ. (2023) Rgs1 is a regulator of effector gene expression during plant infection by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA 120:e2301358120

Yan X, Tang B, Ryder LS, MacLean D, Were VM, Eseola AB, Cruz-Mireles N, Ma W, Foster AJ, Osés-Ruiz M, Talbot NJ. (2023) The transcriptional landscape of plant infection by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae reveals distinct families of temporally co-regulated and structurally conserved effectors. Plant Cell. 35:1360-1385.