Horwitz Lab Project For The Summer

Our lab is studying the interactions between fungi and plants. Fungi, like all microorganisms, detect and process signals from the environment. For pathogens, these include signals from the host. We are looking at (1) Southern corn leaf blight (SCLB) a pathogen of maize that causes necrotic lesions on leaves and (2) the beneficial interaction between the soil fungus Trichoderma and plant roots. Available projects include:

(1) Signaling pathways for the response of SCLB to plant phenolic compounds. The project will be to make and test a construct for expression of a reporter gene in the fungal-plant interaction.
See: https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1462-2920.13528

SCLB (green) on a maize leaf, confocal image showing cytoplasmic and nuclear localization of a C-terminal Gfp fusion of a redox-sensitive transcription factor
(image credit: Dr Sophie Lev).

(2) A transcription factor, Som1, predicted to mediate adhesion of Trichoderma. The project will be to construct a mutant in the gene encoding Som1. See: https://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/8/4/372