A major, multi-million pound study led by the University of Dundee will aim to reveal the secrets of an invisible war that threatens food production worldwide. Experts from the University’s School of Life Sciences will work with partners from across the country to determine how pathogens cause crop diseases such as potato blight. Part of a collaboration with colleagues at the James Hutton Institute, the Sainsbury Laboratory of the University of Cambridge (SLCU) and Imperial College London, the project has been facilitated by a £5.91 million funding award from UKRI, with the five year study starting early next year.
Approximately 25% of food is threatened annually by pests and diseases. Chief amongst these threats are fungal and oomycete pathogens, such as Phytophthora infestans, which cause the devastating disease potato blight and was responsible for the Irish Potato Famine in the 1800’s. Professor Paul Birch, an expert in plant sciences at Dundee who will lead the study, said, “These infection structures present a real and present danger to crops that are staples of our diet.
“This is a truly exciting opportunity to make major advances in our understanding of how these key infection structures are formed and function. The funding will consolidate the UK’s leading position in this research area. The understanding that is likely to emerge from our studies will provide new ways to prevent diseases that threaten global food security.”
Phytophthora produces an infection structure – the haustorium – which is formed intimately within living plant cells. This structure is a battleground where exchanges of virulence proteins from the pathogen, and defence molecules produced by the host take place. The successful delivery of these molecules by each protagonist determines the outcome of their interaction – successful infection by Phytophthora or effective defence by the plant.
This new study brings together a multi-disciplinary team of world experts who will determine how the haustorium is formed and how pathogens transform it to their advantage. New molecular, biochemical and cell biological techniques will be used to address how molecules are exchanged between pathogen and the host. It is hoped that improving our understanding of haustoria could eventually lead to the development of measures that protect potatoes and other crops from disease.
Dr Sebastian Schornack, who leads a research group at SLCU investigating plant interactions with fungi and oomycetes, said, “Our success will depend on understanding how pathogens manipulate host plants to gain entry and establish haustoria inside living plant cells. Various molecular exchanges between the plant and pathogen influence the plant’s susceptibility or resistance and identifying how pathogens subvert the plant’s immune defences will be crucial.” Dr Tolga Bozkurt, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London, said, “Farmers and producers around the world are in a constant state of alert against crop diseases that have the power to devastate their harvest.
“These diseases pose a real threat to their livelihoods, local and national economies, and global food security. If we can understand how pathogens interact with the plant defence systems at the plant-pathogen interface, we move a significant step closer to developing new and effective ways to stop these diseases in their tracks. “Our team of Imperial researchers are delighted to be part of this unique world-leading collaboration,” added Doryen Bubeck, a Professor in structural Immunology at Imperial College London.
“We bring new tools and techniques in molecular imaging to visualise this battle at the haustoria in unprecedented detail. Together, our research could help overcome one of humankind’s most pressing global challenges.”
