The complex NRC network encompasses multiple NRC helper NLRs with overlapping functions as well as many sensor NLRs that recognize different pathogen molecules. The detailed mechanisms by which the sensor NLRs and helper NLRs function together are not clear. We will use different NRCs and their matching sensor NLRs to understand the molecular mechanisms by which the specificity between the sensor and helper NLRs is determined and address how the NLRs cooperate to confer disease resistance.

複雜的NRC免疫受體網絡包含了功能上具有重疊性的NRC輔助型NLR跟能夠辨識不同類型病原菌的偵測型NLR。但是，輔助型NLR與偵測型NLR共同作用的分子機制尚不清楚。我們將利用不同的NRC及對應的偵測型NLR來研究兩者之間專一性決定的機制，並了解NLR蛋白如何共同作用來達到抵抗病原菌入侵的效果。

To cope with rapidly evolving pathogens, the NLR gene family is one of the most fast-evolving gene families in plants. The NRC network originated from an ancestral helper-sensor NLR gene cluster that emerged predate the diversification between Caryophyllales and asterids of eudicots. In Solanaceae, this network has expanded to close to half amounts of NLRs in some species. The degree to which that NRC networks are expanded in other plant lineages is not clear. We will use comparative genomics and evolutionary approaches to understand the lineage-specific expansion patterns and the evolutionary history of the NRC network, particularly in the non-model plants outside of Solanaceae.

為了因應快速演化的植物病原體，NLR基因家族是植物演化最快速的基因家族之一。NRC免疫受體網絡由一個輔助型-偵測型NLR基因簇演化擴張而來，此基因簇的出現應早於石竹目和菊類植物的分歧。在一些茄科植物中，將近半數的NLR都屬於NRC免疫受體網絡。但NRC免疫受體網絡在其他植物演化分枝擴張的狀況則不清楚。我們將利用比較基因體學及演化分析的方法來研究NRC免疫受體網絡在不同的菊類植物演化枝有何不同的特化進程，以了解NRC免疫受體網絡對茄科以外非模式植物的免疫系統的貢獻。