Under pressure: Investigating the turgor-sensing complex of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae

Rice blast disease is one of the most serious diseases affecting rice cultivation around the world, destroying enough rice each year to feed 60 million people. The disease is caused by the fungus Magnaporthe (Syn. Pyricularia) oryzae, which also threatens wheat and millet production, affecting Asia and Africa in particular.

To cause plant infection, the blast fungus develops a specialised infection structure called an appressorium, which develops enormous pressure applied at the leaf surface as physical force to rupture the rice cuticle and infect leaf tissue. Understanding how appressoria develop and function provides a potential means to combat blast disease by preventing initial infection.

This project will investigate the control of turgor generation by Magnaporthe. We will investigate how a turgor-sensing complex operates and determines when sufficient pressure has been generated in the cell. Using a new molecular mechanosensor we aim to define how a turgor-sensing kinase called Sln1 is able to precisely control turgor generation and re-polarisation of the appressorium

The project will provide broad training in molecular genetics, genomics, cell biology, phosphoproteomics, and plant-microbe interactions. Intellectually, the project provides a challenge in understanding how turgor sensing is coupled to the cellular differentiation process, associated with fungal pathogenesis.