Plant disease resistance genes encode proteins that may act as intracellular receptors for pathogen-encoded ligands (the Type III effectors, see below) and other virulence factors produced by different pathogens. We have isolated several R genes and are now characterizing 1) the protein complexes in which they reside in the plant cell; 2) the genetic requirements for their function via isolation of disease susceptible mutants; 3) the genome wide transcriptional changes triggered by R gene action.
This work is currently funded by grants from the NSF Arabidopsis 2010 project and the USDA-NRI.