Life Sciences & Biotechnology
Title : | Elucidating the glycobiology of host-pathogen interactions at the cell wall interface for engineering charcoal rot resistance in soybean under abiotic stress conditions |
Area of research : | Life Sciences & Biotechnology |
Principal Investigator : | Dr. Balakumaran Chandrasekar, Birla Institute Of Technology And Science (BITS), Pilani, Rajasthan |
Timeline Start Year : | 2022 |
Timeline End Year : | 2024 |
Contact info : | balakumaran.c@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in |
Equipments : | Evaporative Light Scattering Detector (ELSD) |
Details
Executive Summary : | Climate change has led to increased aggressiveness of soil-borne plant-fungal pathogens, including Macrophomina phaseolina (M. phaseolina), which colonize soybean roots and cause charcoal rot (CR) disease. This disease limits soybean productivity in India, and there is no reliable source of resistance genes to combat M. phaseolina. The apoplastic carbohydrate metabolic processes (CMP) during the early phase of root colonization determine the outcome of plant-fungal interactions. Most studies have focused on chitin, a polymer derived from the insoluble fungal cell wall layer. However, recent studies indicate that β-glucans, not chitin, are abundant in the extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) matrix and the cell wall layer of fungi. To develop durable resistance against M. phaseolina, it is crucial to characterize these overlooked β-glucan structures and investigate how they are processed by apoplastic glycosidases in soybean roots for plant immunity. In this work, an in-depth characterization of the cell wall and EPS matrix produced by M. phaseolina will be performed using glycomics approaches. The processing of these extracellular glycans that lead to the release of glucan-MAMPs by apoplastic glycosidases will be investigated. The relative abundance of oligosaccharides released from treated compartments will be analyzed using mass spectrometry. The glucan-MAMP that triggers early plant immune responses will be identified using chromatographic approaches and monitored using the oxidative burst assay. The oligosaccharide that triggers the ROS burst will be structurally characterized using state-of-the-art carbohydrate analytics. |
Total Budget (INR): | 32,01,000 |
Organizations involved