Unlocking the molecular basis of plant-pathogen interactions to create resilient bioenergy crops
EMSL Project ID
61073
Abstract
In the winning 2023-DOE BRAVE (Biopreparedness Research Virtual Environment) Proposal (LAB-23-2955), awarded to co-PI Ljiljana Pasa-Tolic (EMSL/PNNL), PI Qun Liu (BNL), and other co-PI:, Clint Magill (Texas A&M), Sean McSweeney (BNL), Yasuo Yoshikuni (JGI/LBL), Huimin Zhao (University of Illinois), Christopher S. Henry (ANL), Shinjae Yoo (BNL), and Jeff Dangl (University of North Carolina) to advance a fundamental understanding of plant-pathosystem interactions by investigating the molecular interactions between sorghum (disease resistant; SC 112-14, and susceptible; BTx623 cultivars), the anthracnose-disease causative fungal pathogen Cs (Colletotrichum sublineola), and antifungal biocontrol bacteria to create disease-resilient bioenergy crops. The attached proposal narrative describes in detail that planned experiments and objects proposed by all collaborators. In brief, Aim1 strives to identify molecular interactions underlying the pathogenicity of Cs and its inhibition by bacteria employing transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and lipidomics to identify virulence effectors in Cs and their host receptors in sorghum. In addition, bacterial strains and antifungal compounds produced from the bacteria will be screened for biocontrol of Cs. Aim2 strives to characterize the molecular basis of key interactions determining Cs pathogenicity, anthracnose resistance, and its susceptibility to biocontrol. Aim3 strives to create synthetic pathogen infections to study pathogenicity, resilience, and disease biocontrol. And Aim4 has the goal of developing innovative computational resources to study plant-pathogen interactions across biological scales.
Towards these specific Aims, we plan to conduct global omics (including proteomics, phosphoproteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and lipidomics, on inoculated and mock-inoculated sorghum leaves) with sorghum grown with or without probiotic/protective bacterial consortiums utilizing the biological mass spectrometry resources in EMSL. Single-cell omics for specific samples of interest will be employed utilizing the nanoSPLITS capabilities in EMSL. And infected vs mock-inoculated leaves will be analyzed using MS imaging approaches in EMSL. The data generated at EMSL and elsewhere will be integrated and modeled for a systems-level understanding of Cs-infected sorghum and disease resistance conferred by protective bacterial consortiums.
The co-PIs are all highly regarded researchers in their respective fields and the PNNL/EMSL proposed team, of experienced plant/microbe processing experts, biomolecular separation scientists, high-resolution LC-ESI mass spectrometry, imaging mass spectrometry experts, microscopy experts, microfluidics experts, sequencing experts and bioinformatics researcher assembled for this project ensure a successful outcome for the PNNL/EMSL proposed research components of this BRAVE project.
USDA permits have been identified for this work in BSF and EMSL, and training and guidance for BSD and EMSL staff, in regards to receiving, documenting, storing, and disposing of Cs containing plant samples are currently underway.
Project Details
Start Date
2024-01-30
End Date
N/A
Status
Active
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members