Project description
Fungal natural products against novel antifungal target septins
Global food security is continuously threatened by the spread of fungal diseases, a risk accelerated by climate change. The emergence of fungal pathogenic strains resistant to many commonly used fungicides calls for sustainable and robust disease control methods. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the TargetSep project will explore fungal natural products inhibiting septins, proteins essential for a fungus’s ability to penetrate and infect host plants. As these proteins are absent in plants themselves, septins could be ideal antifungal targets. Researchers will identify candidate fungal compounds using a synthetic biology approach, test their activity against septins in vitro and in planta, and characterise their structure. This work could lead to environmentally friendly biocontrol strategies to safeguard future cereal production.
Objective
A consequence of climate change is the emergence of fungal plant diseases in Europe. Blast disease on cereal crops is an economically important plant disease caused by the fungus Pyricularia oryzae and poses a significant threat to global food security. While initially well known as the major disease on rice, wheat blast has recently emerged and is of major concern in wheat production areas since P. oryzae has already developed resistance against most used fungicides. Sustainable solutions for the biocontrol of the cereal blast disease are needed, and active fungal natural products inhibiting novel targets represent a promising alternative.
Septin proteins are essential for the pathogenicity of P. oryzae and other fungal plant pathogens and their absence in land plants makes them compelling targets. Yet, no product has been developed to target fungal septins. In a preliminary study, we employed a self-resistance guided genome mining approach to identify candidate biosynthetic pathways of fungal natural products which contain a septin decoy gene. Two biosynthetic pathways were found to likely produce septin-disrupting compounds. I propose to investigate these candidate pathways and validate their potential to control cereal blast. First, wild fungal species containing the identified pathways will be tested for septin-disrupting activity using in vitro fluorescence microscopy-based assay. Second, a synthetic biology approach to activate these candidate pathways in the heterologous host Aspergillus oryzae will aid in characterizing natural compounds and their structure-activity relationships. Finally, natural septin-disrupting compounds will be tested for their ability and efficacy to control blast disease in planta. During TargetSep, I will embark on a multidisciplinary journey to discover natural solutions to control a disease that threatens food safety, while developing various skills like leadership and science communication to fulfill my scientific pursuits.
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. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology mycology
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds cereals
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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1011 JV AMSTERDAM
Netherlands
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