Project Details
Projekt
P03: Fungal defence and antimicrobial resistance as drivers of niche adaptation.
Applicant
Professor Dr. Armin Djamei
Subject Area
Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
Term
since 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 520490591
The composition of a plant microbiome can be considered as the result of a selection process that involves antimicrobial activities and their evasion. Both, the plant and the microbial community members secrete antimicrobials, and only species that adapt to this selection will persist. We hypothesize that plant-colonizing fungi evolved to tolerate or evade antimicrobial activities secreted by the host plant and the microbiome. This also includes mechanisms to evade the own antimicrobial activities being secreted to compete with other microbes. Here we will elucidate how the hemibiotrophic barley-infecting ascomycete Magnaporthe oryzae tolerates or evades antimicrobial activities from the microbiome of barley or the host itself. We will screen a library of bacteria and fungi isolated from barley for neutral and antagonistic interactions with M. oryzae. These interactions will provide the basis of following genetic screens to identify genes of self-protection in M. oryzae. In preparation for the screens we will generate a genome-wide single-insertion mutant library in M. oryzae using transposon mutagenesis. Employing iPool-Seq technology, we will perform negative selection screens to identify genes involved in antimicrobial defense. Independently, a candidate approach based on RNAseq and bioinformatic analysis will be followed to identify the factors involved in self-defense against antimicrobials. Ultimately the candidate genes will be further functionally characterized and potential conservation of the protection mechanisms will be studied. The goal of this proposal is the identification of the underlying genes of self-defense against antimicrobial activities. This will deepen our fundamental understanding and provide potential new drug targets in plant protection.
DFG Programme
Research Units
