Regulation and cytological analysis of the early stages of pathogenic development of Botrytis cinerea

• Applicant: Dr. Michaela Leroch
• Subject Area: Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
• Term: from 2012 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 219587203

Botrytis cinerea produces abundant conidiospores, the primary source of new infections. Conidial germination and early pathogenic development is induced by different signaling pathways, after perception of nutrient availability and physical and chemical plant surface properties. By transcriptome analyses via microarray hybridization, many genes were identified that show various germination-related expression profiles. By using a codonoptimized GFP as novel reporter, I want to follow differential gene induction in vivo and correlate it with cytological differentiation using fluorescence microscopy. In addition to the Ste11-Ste7-BMP1 MAP kinase pathway, we discovered that the two putative surface sensor proteins Msb2 and Sho1 are also important for early signaling and pathogenesis of B. cinerea. Their role in the perception of surface hardness and cuticular lipids on the plant surface will be investigated, and their downstream signaling components identified. Using genes that are regulated by Msb2/Sho1 and the BMP1 MAP kinase cascade, including hard surface induced genes, I want to analyse the integration of different regulatory mechanisms that control early pathogenic development.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants