Project description
How kiwellin proteins help defend plants against pathogens
Plant diseases caused by pathogenic fungi can have a major impact on global food security and plant ecology. However, knowledge on how plants can defend themselves against pathogen invaders is limited. Kiwellin proteins represent an emerging class of highly diverse proteins with antibody-like properties that act as countermeasures for plants against virulence factors secreted by pathogenic fungi. The EU-funded KIWIsome project will establish the functional, structural and mechanistic basis that enables this fundamentally new class of proteins to combat pathogens. This European Research Council initiative will not only offer perspectives for future plant engineering but also provide a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the continuing arms race between plants and their pathogenic invaders.
Objective
Plant diseases caused by pathogenic fungi critically affect global food security and plant ecology. How plants defend themselves against pathogenic invaders and the molecular weaponry involved is still far from being complete. Kiwellin proteins (KWL) represent an emerging class of highly diverse proteins with antibody-like properties serving as countermeasures of plants against virulence factors secreted by pathogenic fungi. The aim of this ERC-project is to establish the functional, structural and mechanistic basis enabling this fundamentally new class of proteins in the defense against their pathogenic invaders. Thus, this ERC-proposal might not only offer new perspectives for a future plant engineering (e.g. towards resistance), but also provides a deeper fundamental understanding into the molecular mechanisms, underlying the everlasting arms race between plants and their pathogenic invaders.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagricultureagronomyplant protection
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteins
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologymycology
- engineering and technologyother engineering and technologiesfood technologyfood safety
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantHost institution
35037 Marburg
Germany