description
- The phytopathogenic fungus Zymoseptoria tritici causes Septoria tritici blotch (STB), a devastating disease of wheat. Resistance against Z. tritici is an important target in wheat breeding and we recently isolated the first resistance gene, Stb6, from wheat. By contrast to the majority of cloned plant disease resistance genes Stb6 confers fungal resistance in the absence of host cell death and encodes an unusual innate immune receptor resembling wall-associated receptor kinases. Using a combination of molecular biology, biochemistry and functional genomic approaches, this project aims to characterise this novel resistance protein and to identify and characterise downstream components of the Stb6-mediated defence signalling pathway which arrest fungal growth. Understanding the molecular mechanism underlying resistance will aid development of future efficient STB disease control strategies. This is an excellent opportunity for a PhD student to work on extremely important fungal pathogen, with clear implications for global food security.