As sessile organisms, plants must constantly defend themselves from potential microbial pathogens. For protection, plants have developed effective defense mechanisms initiated by the extracellular detection of the potential pathogen. However, the signaling pathways that translate extracellular recognition of pathogens into the plant?s resistance are poorly understood. Therefore, identification and characterization of individual signaling components in a cereal crop such as rice will lead to a broader understanding of the defense response in all cereals. The project will use advanced biochemical approaches to identify signaling components activated in rice plants resistant to the bacterial pathogen that causes bacterial leaf blight, a devastating disease of rice throughout the world. Reverse genetic approaches will be used to test if these newly identified signaling components play a significant role in mediating resistance against the bacterial pathogen. The project is expected to identify at least 10-20 new signaling components and to test by reverse genetics 10 of the most promising candidates for their role in resistance against pathogens. Improving knowledge about how the plant responds to invasion by potential pathogens is critical for improving plant yields and quality. Moreover, rice is the leading genomics system for the agriculturally important cereals. Therefore, results from this study will directly benefit researchers studying pathogen stress in other cereal crops. In addition, the project will be used to train undergraduate students in state of the art biochemical techniques.
