Obiettivo The plant immune system is innate – it is encoded in the germline. In natural pathosystems, plants efficiently deploy hundreds of immune receptors to detect and disarm rapidly evolving pathogens including viruses, bacteria, nematodes, insects, fungi and oomycetes. Exactly how such receptor diversity can evolve is an elusive question with important practical ramifications. A central class of plant immune receptors, called Nucleotide Binding Leucine Rich Repeats proteins (NLR), has been implicated in recognition of vastly diverse pathogen-derived effector molecules. An emerging paradigm of receptor diversification in plant genomes involves new gene fusions of receptors with host proteins that are normally targeted by pathogen effectors. Such fusion receptors ‘bait’ pathogens and their integrated domains are thought to function as ‘decoys’ or ‘sensors’ that mediate pathogen recognition. I have recently demonstrated that the mechanism of generating new receptors through gene fusions originated at least 500 million years ago in mosses and is common to all flowering plants. Here, I propose to decode the mechanisms of plant immune receptor diversification by gene fusions by studying diversity and functions of immune receptors in grasses, a young highly diversified plant family that includes the three most important crops: maize, rice and wheat. My specific aims are to: 1) Determine rates of receptor diversification within and across genomes 2) Dissect the mechanisms of receptor regulation and receptor activation 3) Generate novel plant immune receptors based on the NLR platform prone to fusions. In this MIREDI research programme, I will combine state of the art sequencing techniques and bioinformatics, molecular biology and novel reverse genetics techniques to study how plant immune system co-evolves with pathogens and what limits diversification of immunity in domesticated crops. Campo scientifico natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsnatural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyentomologynatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsnucleotidesnatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsgenomesnatural sciencesbiological sciencesmolecular biology Parole chiave Plant disease resistance immune receptors pathogens pathogen effectors Programma(i) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Argomento(i) ERC-2016-STG - ERC Starting Grant Invito a presentare proposte ERC-2016-STG Vedi altri progetti per questo bando Meccanismo di finanziamento ERC-STG - Starting Grant Istituzione ospitante EARLHAM INSTITUTE Contribution nette de l'UE € 882 899,00 Indirizzo NORWICH RESEARCH PARK COLNEY LANE NR4 7UZ Norwich Regno Unito Mostra sulla mappa Regione East of England East Anglia Breckland and South Norfolk Tipo di attività Research Organisations Collegamenti Contatta l’organizzazione Opens in new window Partecipazione a programmi di R&I dell'UE Opens in new window Rete di collaborazione HORIZON Opens in new window Costo totale € 882 899,00 Beneficiari (2) Classifica in ordine alfabetico Classifica per Contributo netto dell'UE Espandi tutto Riduci tutto EARLHAM INSTITUTE Regno Unito Contribution nette de l'UE € 882 899,00 Indirizzo NORWICH RESEARCH PARK COLNEY LANE NR4 7UZ Norwich Mostra sulla mappa Regione East of England East Anglia Breckland and South Norfolk Tipo di attività Research Organisations Collegamenti Contatta l’organizzazione Opens in new window Partecipazione a programmi di R&I dell'UE Opens in new window Rete di collaborazione HORIZON Opens in new window Costo totale € 882 899,00 THE SAINSBURY LABORATORY Regno Unito Contribution nette de l'UE € 617 098,00 Indirizzo Norwich Research Park, Colney Lane NR47UH Norwich Mostra sulla mappa Regione East of England East Anglia Norwich and East Norfolk Tipo di attività Research Organisations Collegamenti Contatta l’organizzazione Opens in new window Sito web Opens in new window Partecipazione a programmi di R&I dell'UE Opens in new window Rete di collaborazione HORIZON Opens in new window Costo totale € 617 098,00