Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Unravelling new immunity-independent mechanisms for durable resistance to blast fungi using MAX effectors

Project description

Saving rice from fungus Magnaporthe oryzae

For half of the world’s population, rice (Oryza sativa) is the primary staple food crop. Rice blast, which is caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, is considered the most destructive disease of rice worldwide. In this context, the EU-funded ii-MAX project will explore fungal virulence and plant immunity to provide the information needed to engineer durable resistance. Specifically, the project will identify the host proteins targeted by Magnaporthe oryzae MAX effectors and conduct a comprehensive study of the biophysical and functional interactions between MAX effectors and their target proteins in rice. This will facilitate the development of new sources of resistance.

Objective

As staple food crops, cereals are essential to feed the world’s growing population. Keeping pace with demography and global change requires increasing cereal yields in a sustainable manner. Destructive fungal pathogens such as Magnaporthe oryzae, the causal agent of the blast disease, represent major threats to cereal production. In this context, the ii-MAX project will produce ground-breaking knowledge of fungal virulence and plant immunity that will be valuable to engineer durable resistance to blast in cereals.
During plant infection, pathogens deploy molecular weapons known as effectors that target cellular processes of the host to promote infection. In M. oryzae, a particularly large and diverse family of effectors has recently been discovered: the MAX (Magnaporthe AVRs and ToxB-like) effector family. Remarkably, these effectors possess various protein sequences but exhibit a conserved structure. The MAX effector family is specific to ascomycete fungi but has undergone massive expansion in M. oryzae suggesting a primary role for these effectors in the infectious process. Nonetheless, the cellular mechanisms they target in cereals are largely unknown. The aim of my project is to identify the host proteins targeted by M. oryzae MAX effectors and conduct a comprehensive study of the biophysical and functional interactions between MAX effectors and their target proteins in rice. This will enable new sources of resistance to be developed by modifying host susceptibility proteins targeted by MAX effectors.
To achieve this goal, I defined four objectives:
1-Identify the host proteins targeted by MAX effectors.
2-Define the structural and biophysical properties governing the interaction of MAX effectors with their virulence targets in cereals.
3-Improve resistance to blast in rice by mutating virulence targets of MAX effectors required for susceptibility to M. oryzae.
4-Elucidate the virulence function of MAX effectors through functional investigation of their targets.

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: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

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.

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.

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.

ERC-STG - Starting Grant

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2019-STG

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE POUR L'AGRICULTURE, L'ALIMENTATION ET L'ENVIRONNEMENT
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 1 499 875,00
Address
147 RUE DE L'UNIVERSITE
75007 Paris
France

See on map

Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

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.

€ 1 499 875,00

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0