The 5th Annual

NC State University

Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium

 

NSF Fungal Genomics Abstracts


Abstracts are listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the corresponding author.

 

 

 

Student Author(s): 

Holtzhausen, Alisha

Home Institution:

North Carolina State University

Program:

NSF Fungal Genomics

Department(s):

Plant Pathology

Research Mentor(s): 

Nicole Donofrio/ Plant Pathology

Title of Presentation:

Characterization of a Magnaporthe grisea Mutant Reduced in Pathogenicity and Penetration

 

 

Magnaporthe grisea, the fungus that causes rice blast disease,  is one of the most severe pathological threats to food supplies world wide. Annually, enough rice is lost as a result of this disease to feed 60 million people per year. In order to fully understand the cause of an organism’s pathogenicity, it is necessary to know which genes are involved. The objective of this project is to determine the genes responsible for the pathogenicity of M.grisea . A hygromycin resistance gene was previously randomly inserted into the M.grisea  genome to generate mutants.  The mutants were screened for reduced pathogenicity and genes were recovered in lines showing a reduced  ability to infect. Characterizations showed that along with reduced pathogenicity, it also displays reduced penetration structure (appressorium)  formation. Gene recovery efforts revealed the hygromycin insert mutated the putative promoter region of gene MGG_08203.5 which encodes for COG 1813, a predicted transcription factor and a homolog of eukaryotic MBF1.  In order to confirm this gene’s involvement, we are attempting to knock it out through site directed mutagenesis as well as complementation. Presented below is characterization data on the mutant, expression data of gene MGG_08203.5 during various growth conditions, as well as the current status of our knock-out and complementation experiments.

 

 

 

 

Student Author(s): 

 Rosario, Yvonne V.

Home Institution:

Fayetteville State University

Program:

NSF Fungal Genomics

Department(s):

Fungal Genomics

Research Mentor(s): 

Ralph A. Dean/Fungal Genomics

Tom Mitchell/Fungal Genomics

Nicole Donofrio/Fungal Genomics

Title of Presentation:

The Characterization of Gene Expression

during Pathogenicity of Magnaporthe grisea

 

 

Previous studies on the fungus Magnapothe grisea have determined that it is the causative pathogen of one of the most destructive diseases of rice. Rice blast disease is estimated to kill enough plants to feed an estimated 60 million people a year. Previous research has linked fungal genes that nullify host responses to infection, such as those that breakdown reactive oxygen species (ROS), to successful infection. To study fungal responses to ROS, RNA was extracted and converted to cDNA from infected barley leaves. To understand whether these genes contribute to pathogenicity, we choose a subset to analyze the expression during plant infection. The following genes were characterized though Real Time (RT) PCR at (48,72, 96 hours): MG07697, MG04337, MG08359, MG03670, MG06249, MG02813, MG02616, MG01104. Currently, we are conducting experiments to knockout the following genes using targeted mutagenesis, the catalase gene MG04337 and SOD MG07697. These genes are responsible in th! e break down ROS in a cell during the cells time of stress. An over production of ROS will cause cell death. Therefore constructing knockouts on these genes will enhance fungal sensitivity to ROS. Presented here are the results of RT PCR characterization of these genes along with background information, materials and methods, and future approaches. 

 

 

 

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