Objective
Fungal pathogens are enormous threats to plants, causing tremendous losses in worldwide crop production. Mechanistic understanding of fungal virulence is crucial to developing novel plant protection strategies in sustainable agriculture.
Biotrophic pathogens colonize living plant tissue and reprogram their hosts to stimulate proliferation and development of infection structures. To promote infection, fungal pathogens secrete sets of virulence proteins termed “effectors” in a spatiotemporal program. Many economically relevant biotrophs like rusts and powdery mildew fungi are obligate pathogens. These organisms cannot be grown in culture and are not amenable to reverse genetics, which is a severe constraint for current research. In contrast, the biotrophic smut fungi have a haploid yeast stage, which allows simple cultivation and genetic modification. The causal agent of corn smut disease, Ustilago maydis, is one of the best-established model organisms for fungal genetics.
This project aims to utilize the excellent genetic accessibility of U. maydis to approach a previously impossible, pioneering enterprise: the synthetic reconstruction of eukaryotic plant pathogens. In a first step, fungal virulence will be deconstructed by consecutive deletion of the U. maydis effector repertoire to generate disarmed mutants. These strains will serve as chassis for subsequent reconstruction of fungal pathogenicity from different sources. A combination of transcriptomics and comparative genomics will help to define synthetic effector modules to reconstruct virulence in the chassis strains.
Deconstruction of U. maydis virulence will identify a complete arsenal of fungal virulence factors. Reconstruction of virulence will show how effector modules determine fungal virulence, including those of the previously not accessible obligate biotrophs. conVIRgens will thereby provide fundamentally new insights and novel functional tools towards the understanding of microbial virulence.
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 genetics
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology mycology
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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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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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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.
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.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2017-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
50931 KOLN
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.