We have a long standing interest in plant immunity, and are studying how it integrates with plant physiology and developing strategies to control disease. Our major diseases of interest are wheat stripe rust caused by a fungal pathogen and bacterial speck disease. We have made seminal contributions in a number of areas including pathogen recognition by plants, identification of signal transduction pathways and how microbes suppress them, and genomics and transcriptomics of rust fungi.

Honours and PhD projects are available in the following areas:

Sweet immunity - how immunity interfaces with photosynthesis

Green plants harness sunlight to convert CO2 into sugars. Naturally, this attracts microbes who seek to feed on this abundant nutrient source. Plants are a mixture of source tissues that fix carbon and sink tissues that utilise it, a relationship that is exploited by pathogens. Biotrophic pathogens such as fungal rusts act as a new sink that maintains photosynthetic production while avoiding detection by the plant's immune system. Necrotrophic pathogens trigger immunity, leading to inappropriate conversion of source tissues to sink which triggers cell death. The major focus of this work is to understand how plant immune receptors trigger the major changes in primary metabolism that underlie these events. This investigation represents the cutting edge of plant immunity research and utilises a range of techniques including biochemistry, molecular biology, metabolomics and comparative transcriptomics.
 

Innovating new disease control strategies

Fungal diseases such as rusts cause huge economic and food losses. We constantly need new ways to combat them and to reduce the impact of toxic fungicides on the environment.

Fungi that attack fungi

Rust fungi produce huge numbers of spores wich store large amounts of protein, carbohydrate, fats and sugar alcohols. This makess them targets for opportunistic members of the microbiome including fungal hyperparasites. We have isolated a number of potential fungal hyperpasites of rust spores and are asking questions about their specificity and aggressiveness. As we learn more about these fungi we will test if they can be used to control rust diseases under field conditions. We are performing whole genome sequencing of selected isolates in conjunction with transcriptomics to identify key pathogenicity genes and small metabolite clusters.

Synthetic biology for new pathogen receptors

Stem, stripe and wheat rust diseases of wheat wreak havoc on grain production causing famine and huge economic losses. The best means of control is via deployment of plant resistance genes, but these are rapidly overcome by the rapidly evolving pathogens. This project is lead by DECRA fellow Dr Xiaoxiao Zhang and uses synthetic biology methods to generate new resistance genes in vitro for rapid deployment in crops via genome engineering.

Genomics of wheat rusts

Although wheat rusts evolve rapidly, their sources of genetic variability, pathways to evolution of virulence, and relationships between lineages are poorly understood. Here we interact with local and international collaborators to better understand these problems in a global context. Projects in this area are offered in collaboration with the Schwessinger laboratory.

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