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What makes a pathogen? Uncovering the molecular mechanisms underlying plant-associated fungus lifestyles.
What makes a pathogen? Uncovering the molecular mechanisms underlying plant-associated fungus lifestyles.
Which genes differentiate pathogens from mutualists?
Which genes differentiate pathogens from mutualists?
Supervised by Professor Kei Hiruma at the University of Tokyo, I sought to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying differences between mutualistic and pathogenic fungi.
To approach this problem, I conducted a comparative genomic analysis of the root-associated fungal species Colletotrichum tofieldiae, which contains both pathogens and mutualists. I found numerous genes related to transcriptional regulation as well as effector genes, indicating that these may be important markers of lifestyle.
But which genes are most important? Is there a gene that can transition a pathogen to become a mutualist, or vice versa? I looked into a closely related mutualist-pathogen pair to find out.
Which genes determine lifestyle along the parasitism-mutualism continuum?
Which genes determine lifestyle along the parasitism-mutualism continuum?
Colletotrichum tofieldiae (Ct) is a species of Colletotrichum in the clade Spaethianum. Ct3 and Ct4 are two sister strains. They share ~98% of their genome based on nucleotide identity, yet Ct3 is a pathogen and Ct4 is a mutualist under inorganic phosphate (Pi) deficient conditions. What genetic factors determine the difference in lifestyle? I performed mutant analysis experiments to find out.
This section of my research is ongoing, but preliminary results indicate that multiple genes contribute or to or attenuate Ct3 virulence in a phosphate-dependent manner, indicating there is substantial virulence reprogramming at sufficient vs. deficient Pi. I am now actively characterizing these genes using a combination of wet lab and in silico analyses to identify their functions and mechanisms of contributing to virulence.
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