DynaMo Seminar: Daniel Kliebenstein

DynaMo Semiars are a series of public seminars hosted by DNRF Center DynaMo. The next speaker in the series is

Daniel J. Kliebenstein

Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
Board Member of DynaMo, University of Copenhagen

Genotype-to-phenotype2: quantitative resistance using both the host and pathogen

Endemic pathogens are marked by having a constant pressure on plant productivity without typically leading to total crop loss. This continuous pressure is marked by broad host ranges and high levels of genetic diversity within the pathogen. We have developed Botrytis cinerea, a necrotrophic fungus, into a model system to study endemic pathogens. Botrytis is marked by a pan-global distribution that likely occurred prior to the invention of Agriculture and it can infect everything from Bryophytes to Gymnosperms to all dicot crops. Further research has shown that it can even infect monocot crops. Importantly, Botrytis has sexual recombination within the field and most fields have 100s to 1000s of different genotypes rather than the monogenic infections typical of biotrophic pathogens. Using Botrytis cinerea we are working to understand how genomic variation in the pathogen may be enabling this broad host range.

An Arabidopsis RIL population infected with Botrytis cinerea.

To understand the plant side of the equation we are currently conducting a genome wide association analysis of how five different Botrytis isolates interact with a large collection of Arabidopsis accessions. This is providing us a large collection of candidate genes for controlling quantitative resistance that have never been previously linked to disease resistance. In combination, this systems analysis of two species and their genomic interactions is providing a unique image of quantitative resistance in plants.

Daniel J Kliebenstein is Professor at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, USA, where he is head of the Kliebenstein Lab. He has a very impressive track record in quantitative genetics and systems biology and his studies include large-scale analysis of transcriptomic and metabolomic datasets to understand transcriptional regulatory network interactions. Daniel Kliebenstein is one of the four center partners in DynaMo and during his next visit to Copenhagen, he has agreed to give a DynaMo Seminar on some aspects of his latest research.

Everybody is welcome!