Plant-microbe Interactions Research
Plant-microbe interactions describe a broad range of scientific study concerning the molecular biology and molecular genetics of pathological, symbiotic and associative interactions of microbes with plants. For the scientists and researchers at the Noble Foundation, the study of "microbes" encompasses viruses, fungal pathogens, endophytes ( fungi), mychorrhizae (fungi) and virus-fungus interactions. The application of this research typically concerns traditional forage crops, both grasses and legumes, bioenergy crops such as switchgrass and research in model plants like Medicago truncatula, a model legume. Noble Foundation researchers seek to understand the nature and consequence of these interactions. From this knowledge, new plants or new plant-microbe combinations may be created to tolerate pathological effects that may otherwise limit crop productivity or to capitalize on beneficial, symbiotic relationships to produce plants that are more heat tolerant, drought tolerant or self-sufficient. Additionally, this knowledge is creating new research tools, such as virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) technology, that permit rapid evaluation of genes and identification of their function.
Representative research
- Develop rhizobia inoculation techniques for better performance under field conditions (Butler, Young)
- Characterize novel symbiosis created between switchgrass and mycorrhizae (Craven)
- Identify and characterize novel fungal genes involved in anastomosis and a novel class of fungal apoptosis genes (Craven)
- Genetically transform alfalfa to introduce tolerance to Phymatotrichum root rot (or cotton root rot) (Dixon, Sumner, Mysore)
- Identify and characterize M. truncatula genes involved in resistance or tolerance to certain fungal diseases (Mysore)
- Study virus intercellular and intracellular movement (Nelson)
- Develop and use viruses for functional genomics studies (Nelson)
- Study molecular and biochemical roles of root border cells in plant-microbe interactions (Sumner)
- Study molecular and biochemical interactions between M. truncatula and Phymatotrichopsis omnivora (Sumner)
- Functionally characterize root nodule transporters and enzymes involved in symbiotic nitrogen fixation (Udvardi)
- Study epichloë endophytes and their interaction with cool-season grasses (Young)
- Develop endophyte tools to enhance cool-season grasses (Young)
Principal investigators
Twain Butler, Ph.D., Forage Improvement
Kelly Craven, Ph.D., Plant Biology
Rick Dixon, D. Phil., Plant Biology
Kirankumar Mysore, Ph.D., Plant Biology
Rick Nelson, Ph.D., Plant Biology
Lloyd Sumner, Ph.D., Plant Biology
Michael Udvardi, Ph.D., Plant Biology
Carolyn Young, Ph.D., Forage Improvement
Collaborations
U.S. Dept. of Energy BioEnergy Science Center
Oklahoma Consortium for Legume Research