Tomato-induced cross-kingdom RNA interference in the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea

• Applicant: Dr. Arne Weiberg
• Subject Area: Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 433194101

Cross-kingdom RNA interference is an emerging field in plant-microbe research, but the underlying biological mechanisms are barely understood. The goal of this project is to gain a deep understanding of the mechanisms how invading small RNAs of the host plant tomato induce gene silencing in the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea. We aim to unravel the molecular and cellular mechanisms how tomato small RNA intruders get access to the Botrytis cinerea Argonaute proteins for inducing cross-kingdom RNA interference. We will address the following open questions: i) in which cellular compartment(s) are Botrytis cinerea Argonaute proteins localized to form an RNA-induced silencing complex with tomato small RNAs, ii) how are tomato small RNAs transported to these compartments to load into Botrytis cinerea Argonautes, iii) is there a re-loading mechanism of tomato small RNAs into Botrytis cinerea Argonautes and what are crucial co-factors thereof? Gaining such information could deliver new possibilities to advance RNA-based plant technologies to protect crops against fungal pathogens.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 5116: “exRNA”: Plant-microbe communication through extracellular RNA