Identification of host-specificity determinants of maize and sorghum head smut fungi

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jan Schirawski
• Subject Area: Plant Breeding and Plant Pathology ; Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
• Term: from 2013 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 245399017

Sporisorium reilianum causes head smut of maize and sorghum and thus threatens today's most important food and energy plants. The biotrophic fungus exists in two varieties with different host specificity that can either form spores on maize or on sorghum. How the fungus manages to suppress or evade the host's immune system or why the varieties show different host specificity is unknown. Own experiments have shown that host-specific virulence is determined by several fungal genes. In this project, we want to identify the most important host specificity determinants of Sporisorium reilianum by Next-Generation genotypic sequence analysis of meiotic cross-variety offspring. Genes whose parental origin correlates with host specificity will be experimentally verified by generation and virulence analysis of candidate gene deletion- or cross variety expression-strains. This method allows the unbiased identification of currently unknown host specificity factors of the fungus, which permits the future identification of maize and sorghum smut defense mechanisms. Ultimately, this knowledge will allow generating smut-resistant maize and sorghum lines for improved food and energy production.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Björn Usadel