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Abstract: Global food security is under constant threat from plant diseases. The evolutionary arms race between the plants and pathogens remains ongoing. To infect plants, pathogens deliver an array of secreted proteins, termed effectors, into the apoplast or directly inside host cells, where they manipulate host physiology and suppress immune responses. In response, plants have evolved intracellular immune receptors, predominantly nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins, to detect pathogen effectors and activate defence mechanisms that restrict pathogen colonization. However, strong immune-driven selection promotes rapid effector diversification, posing a major challenge to durable plant immunity and underscoring the need to understand effector recognition and immune evasion at the molecular level. In this study, I investigate a class of zinc-binding effector proteins from the wheat stem rust pathogen Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici. Through integrated biochemical and structural analyses, I characterize the architecture of zinc-coordinating domains and elucidate their role in effector stability and recognition by host immune receptors. These findings reveal how zinc-dependent structural features shape effector recognition and immune evasion, providing a molecular framework for engineering more resistance in crops.

Biography: I am a PhD candidate at the Australian National University, and I joined the Williams group in 2022 to undertake a joint PhD project with CSIRO. My research focuses on using structural and biochemical approaches to understand stem rust effectors recognition in wheat. Prior to my PhD, I completed a master’s degree in Pharmacognosy in China, where I received training in biochemistry and molecular biology. After moving to ANU, I gained further research experience working in the Susanne von Caemmerer group, before commencing my PhD research.