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Thesis
ROOTS OF ROT: IDENTIFYING THE MOLECULAR ACTORS AND COMMUNITIES UNDERLYING APHANOMYCES INFECTION IN TWO AGRICULTURALLY IMPORTANT LEGUME CROPS
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
05/2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000006978
Abstract
Lentils (Lens culinaris) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa) are among multiple pulse crops susceptible to Aphanomyces root rot (ARR). Aphanomyces euteiches, an ancient and destructive oomycete is the filamentous pathogen responsible for ARR infection. As obligate hemibiotrophs, A. euteiches’ infection strategy includes secreting effectors, facilitating evasion and suppression of the plant immune system to complete its reproductive lifecycle, and generating hardy oospores viable in soils for up to a decade. To date, multiple effectors and their plant cell targets have been identified, though the broader molecular communities that these effector-target pairs operate within remain unknown. Using data generated during ARR infection of legume host roots, we conduct a systems level analysis, employing machine learning models to identify ARR resistance-associated features (RAFs) in lentil (LRFs), Medicago (MRFs), and A. euteiches (ARFs) before and during infection, to construct directional host↔pathogen gene antagonism networks (GANs). Supported by the associated functional and contextual analyses, these GANs identify specific ARF↔(LRF/MRF) interactions during infection, and associate functionality to the greater communities that they belong to. Furthermore, by constructing and analyzing these GANs, we identify LRF-1 and MRF-1 as potential A. euteiches-specific pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that likely confer partial ARR resistance in lentil and Medicago. We also implicate a retrotransposon (RT) as potentially playing a key role during the infection of tolerant Medicago plants
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Details
- Title
- ROOTS OF ROT
- Creators
- Joel Alejandro Velasco
- Contributors
- Stephen Patrick Ficklin (Chair)Sindhuja Sankaran (Committee Member)Kiwamu Tanaka (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Program in Molecular Plant Sciences
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 92
- Identifiers
- 99901124820501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis