植物细胞中致病疫霉菌RXLR效应蛋白的定位与初步功能解析

Potato late blight, a devastating disease caused by Phytophthora infestans, has been imperiling the global potato production since its notorious epidemic in Ireland. The genome of P. infestans encodes sheer number of RXLR effectors with extensive sequence divergence. The genetic variation of RXLR effectors determines the pathogenicity differentiation of P. infestans isolates. Deciphering the precise bioactivities of effector proteins to understand how they interfere the plant defense responses and facilitate successful proliferation became a central focus for plant pathology in the past two decades. Based on the sequence variation investigation of RXLR effector genes and virulence analysis of individual P. infestans isolates, in this proposal, we aim at study the subcellular localization of the representative RXLR effectors by molecular and cell biology together with immunology techniques. We will preliminarily investigate how subcellular targeting affects the function of RXLR effectors, which provides clues for further understanding of biological function of RXLR effectors.

马铃薯晚疫病由致病疫霉菌引起，该病菌基因组编码数量庞大、功能多样的RXLR效应蛋白，促进病菌的侵染与繁殖。由于RXLR效应蛋白的遗传变异导致病菌的毒性分化，影响抗病品种的有效性，因此研究致病关键RXLR效应蛋白的功能有助于进一步认知疫霉菌的致病机理，为开发新型防病策略和抗病品种合理布局提供理论依据。基于前期对我国致病疫霉菌群体的遗传分化、毒性分化和RXLR效应蛋白基因的遗传变异分析，本项目拟通过分子生物学、细胞生物学和免疫学方法，研究代表性RXLR效应蛋白在寄主植物细胞中的定位及其在疫霉菌侵染植物过程中的动态变化，探索致病关键的RXLR效应蛋白的亚细胞定位与其毒性功能的联系，为深入研究其致病机制奠定基础。