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InterStellar
IS-MPMI > COMMUNITY > Interactions > Categories
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| University of California-Davis and IS-MPMI member Dr. Pam Ronald has been awarded the 2022 International Wolf Prize in Agriculture "for pioneering work on disease resistance and environmental stress tolerance in rice."
The Wolf Prize is awarded annually to scientists and artists for their achievements in the interest of humankind and friendly relations among people. Dr. Ronald is a distinguished professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Pathology, having joined the faculty in 1992. She is also affiliated with the UC Davis Genome Center, the Innovative Genomics Institute, and the Physical Biosciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Dr. Ronald is the first woman among six UC Davis scientists to receive the award, and she joins
Dr. Ilan Chet (1998) as IS-MPMI members who have been awarded this prestigious prize. About a year ago, Dr. Ronald was awarded the World Agriculture Prize, and you can read about her accomplishments and insights in an
InterStellar interview led by
Nick Colaianni published in
Interactions in December 2021.
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| Saskia Hogenhout, John Innes Centre, UK, has been named a 2021 Fellow of The American Phytopathological Society (APS). This honor recognizes distinguished contributions to plant pathology in one or more of the following areas: original research, teaching, administration, professional and public service, and extension and outreach.
1. What area(s) of molecular plant-microbe interactions do you feel your research has impacted most? I believe my research has most impacted the fields of bacteriology, vector-borne disease, and molecular plant-microbe-insect interactions. At the time I started research on phytoplasmas, the majority of bacteriologists studied culturable bacterial plant pathogens, such as Pseudomonas, Xanthomonas, and Erwinia species, and their type III secretion systems and effectors. In contrast, phytoplasmas are obligate colonizers of plants and insects, reside in the cytoplasm of their host cells, and secrete their effectors via sec-dependent pathways. My research has shown that research on nontractable organisms is highly rewarding, as it has led to the characterization of reactive small effector proteins that can induce dramatic changes in plant development and attract phytoplasma insect vectors to plants. These phytoplasma effectors act like molecular glues that short-circuit key plant pathways. Phytoplasma effectors have been useful tools to study connections between plant development and defense processes.
2. What advice do you have for young scientists aspiring to achieve the level of science that has a major impact? I think it is important to remain interested and inspired by the scientific topic being studied. When times get tough, the science itself will give you the resilience, excitement, and positivity to move forward. In addition, it builds the self-confidence that what you are doing is high impact, no matter what others may think about it.
3. When you were a postdoc, what had the largest influence on your decision to enter your specific research area in your permanent position? Was this a "hot topic" at the time, or did you choose to go in a different direction? I started my tenure-track position just after I received my Ph.D. degree. I was inspired by the work of Skip Nault, who published many research papers and reviews on phytoplasmas. I was intrigued by the findings that infections by these bacteria induce changes in plant architecture and plant-insect interactions. Given my expertise in insect-vectored plant pathogens gained from my Ph.D. work, I was in an excellent position to dissect the molecular mechanisms that underpin phytoplasma-induced symptoms. The work of Skip was widely known in the vector-borne plant disease field, but I had the impression that few people in the bacteriology field knew about phytoplasmas. The dogma at that time was that hormone imbalance triggered disease symptoms, and when I started my lab, people frequently asked me about hormone imbalances induced by phytoplasmas. However, my team found that the developmental symptoms are induced by small protein effectors that degrade key transcription factors. Given that most scientists worked on culturable plant pathogens, my team's work on the nonculturable phytoplasmas was seen as novel, and I think this helped me to get funding for the research.
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| 
Yeram Hong

Front
row (left to right): Ilea Chau, Jamie Calma, Yuritzy Rodriguez, Yuan Chen, Karl
Schreiber. Back row (left to right): Jana Hassan, Hunter Thornton, Jennifer
Lewis, Maël Baudin, Jacob Carroll-Johnson, Jack Kim.
|
 Dr. Barbara Kunkel |
---|
Yeram Hong and Jennifer D. Lewis
Yeram Hong is an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley in her third year. She
is double majoring in forestry and genetics and plant biology. From a young
age, Yeram was interested in the natural environment, with a particular
interest in plant biology. Her current research interests include protein
function in plant nuclear membranes and bacterial plant pathology. Outside of
academia, Yeram enjoys drawing, caring for her many houseplants, and reading
literary fiction.
Jennifer Lewis is a principal investigator at
the U.S. Department of Agriculture and an adjunct associate professor at UC
Berkeley. Her lab studies the plant immune system and its response to the
bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas
syringae. The Lewis lab is committed to diversifying plant sciences.
To encourage this, they are performing interviews with prominent scientists in
the field to discuss their research and their perspectives on diversifying
science.
Dr. Barbara Kunkel
Dr. Barbara Kunkel is a professor at Washington
University in the Department of Biology, where she leads a research group and
teaches courses in general and plant biology. Her lab is interested in the
complex biological communication between bacterial plant pathogens and their
hosts, as well as the bacteria’s virulence mechanisms. Her research group takes
a genetic and molecular approach in looking at both bacteria and their plant
hosts to develop a more clear and integrative view of disease. Currently, Dr.
Kunkel is interested in investigating the molecular mechanisms of disease
caused by Pseudomonas syringae in Arabidopsis
thaliana. More specifically, she works to understand how auxin, a
plant growth hormone, may play a role in these plant–bacteria interactions. She
is particularly interested in understanding how bacteria sense auxin and
respond to it and the significance of this interaction. Prof. Kunkel’s research
is important in obtaining a fundamental understanding of the virulence
strategies pathogens use. This knowledge can be used in the future to develop
breeding, cultivation, and control strategies to address the global issues of
crop failure and agricultural pathogen outbreaks. By providing fundamental
knowledge about the interactions between bacterial pathogens and plants, she
believes that her discoveries may be crucial to developing novel biological
technologies to address crop losses from disease.
One of her major discoveries was
the identification of the coronatine virulence factor as a jasmonic acid mimic
in the Arabidopsis–Pseudomonas pathogenic interaction. Her lab stumbled upon CORONATINE INSENSITIVE 1 (COI1),
a gene that encodes the coronatine receptor, while examining plant mutants that
were particularly resistant to bacterial infection. At the same time, another
researcher in her lab, who was focused on the bacterial side, isolated several
mutants in a biosynthetic gene cluster in P. syringae that
coded for coronatine. Connecting these observations, her lab realized
coronatine was particularly significant. Although coronatine had been
previously identified, her lab was able to find their “first indication that
manipulation of plant hormone biology [aside from purely defense hormones] was
important in these pathogen interactions.” They had discovered a virulence
factor that the pathogen used as a hormone mimic to modulate the biology of its
host!
To recognize her considerable and
valuable contributions to the scientific community as an educator, mentor, and
researcher, Dr. Kunkel was awarded the AAAS Fellowship as one of the elected
Fellows of 2020. In response, Dr. Kunkel commented: “I was surprised to tell
you the truth…but I was also very thrilled [as] it gives me some exposure that
I would not have had otherwise.” This opportunity allows people to learn about
her research and become more interested in the topics that she is researching.
Through her achievement, she is paving the way in science as a role model for
future women scientists to look up to and have the conviction that success is
possible.
Despite her research successes,
she had not originally planned on entering this career path. From a young age,
Dr. Kunkel had a love for horses and other large animals and dreamed of
becoming a veterinarian. Following her dreams, she attended the University of
California, Davis. There, she became drawn to the pastoral life of working in
the agricultural sector and began studying agricultural sciences. However, this
was not meant to be, as she stated, “it was unrealistic because I’m not a farm
kid, I’m a city kid.” In her second year of college, Dr. Kunkel found her true
passion in a genetics course taught by Dr. Francisco Ayala. She became a genetics
major, specializing in plant biology and bacteriology.
After graduating from UC Davis,
Dr. Kunkel was unsure about her next steps. However, she loved to learn and was
just being introduced to the world of scientific experimentation; graduate
school seemed like the next step. Interested in symbiotic relationships, she
looked for a graduate school where she could study plant–microbe interactions.
Although she was not able to find the right opportunity in this line of
interest, she obtained her Ph.D. degree at Harvard studying gene expression in Bacillus subtilis in Dr. Richard Losick’s Lab. For her postdoc, Dr.
Kunkel decided to pursue research in the area of plant–pathogen interactions
because she wanted to work with plants again and she “wanted to study a system
where you could do the bacterial part and the plant host was genetically
tractable.” She completed her postdoc at the University of California,
Berkeley, with Dr.
Brian Staskawicz, studying disease resistance in plants using a genetics
approach to investigate which genes control the ability of a plant to detect
the pathogen and activate defense responses.
Although Dr. Kunkel had never
planned on becoming a university professor, she realized while obtaining her
Ph.D. degree and completing her postdoc that she loved the scientific process.
During her postdoc, Dr. Kunkel decided she wanted to run her own lab. While she
was working in the Staskawicz lab researching disease resistance, she continued
to wonder, “What’s the pathogen’s part in this?” She began planning to start a
lab that would also study the pathogen as well as the plant host. At this time,
researchers had discovered the type III secretion system (T3SS) in bacteria.
Using this system, bacteria can inject into their plant hosts proteins that
directly affect plant physiology and make the plant more susceptible to
infection. Fascinated by the recent discovery of the T3SS, Dr. Kunkel decided
that one of her first projects would be to study virulence mechanisms in P. syringae and find out more about the proteins being
injected.
As a woman in science, Dr. Kunkel
wondered if she could manage a full-time, professional career as a professor.
Her mother expressed concerns about her career path as a researcher, intimately
aware of the time and dedication required for the job as Dr. Kunkel’s father
was a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. Although
her parents did encourage her curiosity and to pursue the opportunity, her
mother did not believe that Dr. Kunkel, who was in a serious relationship at
the time, would be able to “be a mom with kids and a homelife and be a
professor.” Along with these concerns, Dr. Kunkel found there was a lack of
role models who could show her that this was in fact possible. She stated, “I
wanted to look around and try to find role models or examples of what I wanted
to do…[but] there weren’t a lot of role models for me at the time.” From her
perspective as a professor, Dr. Kunkel emphasized the importance of role
models. She said,
There has to be that first role model…. I think if you’re going to
be the only woman, and if everybody is white, the only woman of color, that’s
two barriers. You have to be the first one, and you have to be the role model?
That’s a lot to do…. I teach a freshman biology class in which we have a lot of
attrition in that first semester because it’s a challenging class. A lot of
people go, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t handle this.’ And, what we think would be
helpful would be…that all the students could see themselves as scientists
regardless of their background, [whether they’ve] taken AP Biology [or are] the
first generation to go to college [or if] they’re black. How can we help them
see themselves as succeeding there?
Another difficulty with being a woman
in science was that she found it hard to be recognized for her accomplishments.
When she was receiving more opportunities than some of her male colleagues, she
said, “Some of them [said], ‘You’re getting all of these interviews because
you’re a woman.’ Like ouch, I’m a good scientist and I’m a woman.” She also
recalled a story from her years as a postdoc:
I think I did experience some of that when I was a postdoc, and I
remember at some point [my co-postdoc] was trying to tell the boss about my
results. And finally I just said, ‘Let me tell him. I did this.’ I don’t know
if he was consciously trying to grab the credit for it, if he was thinking I
couldn’t speak for myself, or what was he doing. The funny thing is this guy is
a very very good friend of mine to this day. We had a few rough times in there
where I had to just say, ‘Back off guy!’
Despite these past experiences, Dr. Kunkel believes that things
are changing for the better. She believes that while the situation is still not
perfect, there has been an increase in the number of role models that women can
look to to know that they can actively pursue science. With additional focus on
the effect of implicit bias and more strategic dispersal of funding for small
labs and minorities to pursue research, Dr. Kunkel believes that we can
continue to work toward a more diverse and inclusive scientific community.
When she is not busy in her lab, Dr. Kunkel loves to be outdoors.
She enjoys hiking and gardening, which she says could be why she likes plants
so much. She is also an avid reader and is currently part of a book club where
she is exposed to many different genres and authors. When asked about her
favorite types of books she exclaimed, “I like books with strong women!”
|
| Kamal Kumar Malukani
Dr. Jan Leach (Colorado
State University) was the recipient of the 2020 Award of Distinction from
The American Phytopathological Society. This award, the highest honor APS can bestow,
is presented on rare occasions to persons who have made truly exceptional contributions
to plant pathology. Dr. Kamal
Kumar Malukani, a postdoc in the lab of Dr. Ramesh
V. Sonti at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad,
India, recently interviewed Dr. Leach to learn more about the qualities that one
needs to become a leader in the field of plant pathology.
1. Many scientists, especially those
early in their careers, find it difficult to manage a balance between their professional
and personal life. How do you manage it?
I don’t know that I did manage it particularly
well! My husband, also a plant pathologist, and I started our faculty positions
at the same time, so we were both going through the tenure and promotion process
together. We shared an understanding of the pressures and demands of our positions.
We respected and, very importantly, supported each other’s choices and challenges,
which really helped as we worked through the ranks. We joked that we often passed
each other in the door, one coming and one going, much of the early parts of our
careers. So, I would say understanding and respecting each other’s situation played
a big role.
2. Thinking back to the beginning of
your career, can you provide one or two things you wished you had known that might
have made starting your career easier?
As passionate scientists, we focus
our early training on getting deeper into the science. We are frequently very focused
on learning what is needed to support our research. But, unfortunately, we are often
not well-trained in how to manage people, which is a critical part of running a
successful lab. For me, it was “on-the-job” learning, and as a young faculty member
trying to build my program, it was a hard go. Fortunately, I found good mentors
to reach out to for sound advice. I still do that; more than 30 years of experience,
and I still reach out to mentors, some decades younger than me, for guidance on
how to handle tough people problems.
3. What do you believe is the biggest
question in the field of MPMI today, and why?
One of our biggest questions is how
we will identify and stabilize plant disease resistance in the face of a changing
climate. Adapting crops to withstand disease in the face of changing temperatures
and unpredictable weather patterns is not trivial. We have observed that some disease-resistance
genes lose efficacy with a few degrees of increase in temperatures. Other resistance
genes are more effective at high temperatures but may fail under drought conditions.
Successful crop production in the future will likely depend on more complex solutions,
discovered by studying the plant, pathogen, and environment as an interacting system
(phytobiome) and integrating more diverse options into our tool kits. Successful
translation of those solutions will likely require those of us in MPMI to work even
more closely with those nearer to the field and the growers, including breeders,
agronomists, and extension specialists.
4. You have been involved in a lot
of science, as well as the administrative side of work. How do you manage this transformation?
The secret is working with talented,
independent, and smart people who are patient with my split position. I have kept
my research program running because it is the candy in my job, i.e., the part of
the job where I am most comfortable and find the most joy. It also helps keep me
grounded in the issues and challenges faced by the faculty I serve as associate
dean for research. Balancing the two parts of the job is difficult, and I battle
the constant feeling that I am not doing either job very well. But, we all have
a limited time, and I try to give the best output in both parts with the help of
people around me.
5. What advice would you like to give
to emerging scientist that will help them in the long run?
Probably the best advice I received
as an assistant professor was “Choose your battles wisely!” In other words, consider
carefully if this is a cause or battle that is really important and worth investing
your time and energy. You only have so much energy and time…conserve them for the
important causes and issues. |
|
Nick Colaianni
I had the pleasure of interviewing
Dr.
Pamela Ronald who was recently awarded the 2020 World Agriculture
Prize for her achievements in agricultural research and science education.
Dr. Ronald is a leader in the research field of plant responses to
environmental and pathogen stresses. Additionally, she is an advocate and
educator for sustainable food practices and modern crop breeding strategies.
She has a fabulous TED
talk and has written a book with her husband on modern crop science
and organic farming practices titled Tomorrow’s
Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food.
This Q&A session was designed to learn more about
her accomplishments, understand the challenges humanity faces in food
production, and the ways science has and continues to address these issues.
1. In your own words, can you provide a brief introduction of your
research and interests?
“I have been working on the interaction
between plants and microbes for many years. My interest in this research
started when I was an undergraduate. My plant physiology professor at Reed
College taught me about plant–microbe interactions, and it sparked my interest.
Then, while doing my masters at Stanford, Dr. Brian Staskawicz
came and gave a talk on his lab’s work, and it left an impression on me. After
my Ph.D. work, I decided to work in Dr. Staskawicz’s lab. There I focused on
plant–microbe interactions, where I have now spent a bulk of my career.”
At the helm of her own lab, Dr. Ronald and her
team identified
Xa21,
a receptor in rice, using positional cloning. This receptor confers resistance
to the devastating Xanthomonas oryzae pv.
oryzae pathogen. Almost immediately after
publication, “a colleague of mine that I had known for several years, Dr. Dave Mackill,
came by my office and asked if I would help him isolate another gene in rice
that plays a role in stress tolerance. I was immediately interested.” This
gene, Sub1A,
turned out to be instrumental for conferring tolerance to submergence. Its
discovery led to an, “exciting international project to create flood-tolerant
rice varieties for farmers in India and Bangladesh.”
2. Can you go a bit more in-depth about the creation and
distribution of Sub1A
rice varieties?
“Well this whole process was
started by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The mission of IRRI is to help abolish poverty and hunger in regions that depend on
rice for most of their calories.
Rice fields in India and
Bangladesh were constantly being flooded, resulting in devastating yield
losses, so farmers looked to the scientists at IRRI to help. At the time, IRRI
had built up a large and diverse rice seed collection, which they used to
screen rice varieties for submergence tolerance.
Dave Mackill had worked in South
Asia before working at UC Davis and knew how important this work was.
Researchers at IRRI had identified a rice variety with tolerance to
submergence. Dave then mapped the submergence tolerance (Sub1) trait as a
quantitative trait locus (QTL). This was when Dave came to me and asked if we
could collaborate on isolation of Sub1 using positional cloning. We were
successful and named the key gene Sub1A.
Dave used marker-assisted breeding
to introgress Sub1A
into commonly used rice varieties. This breeding practice is not considered a
genetically modified organism (GMO) and is not regulated. IRRI researchers
collaborated with breeders at breeding stations in India and Bangladesh to test
the performance of the Sub1
varieties.” Last year, 6 million farmers in India and Bangladesh grew Sub1 rice with an
average yield advantage of 60% after flooding.” See
this perspective for more information.
3. If you were to make the argument for GMO products to someone
against it, what would you tell them?
“Well, I would first try to understand
what they were afraid of. The term GMO means something different to everyone.
Interestingly, GMO isn’t even used by the FDA because genetically modified
organism doesn’t accurately describe any breeding process really. Often, a
person who identifies as ‘anti-GMO’ is afraid of large corporations like
Monsanto, or they heard that ‘GMOs’ require more chemicals, and they don’t like
that. This is why it’s really important to understand the root of each person’s
fears of GMOs, so you can narrow the discussion to address individual
questions.
When trying to explain to a group
of people why modern genetics is useful in agriculture, I think it’s important
to give specific examples. That’s the one thing that just changes people’s
mind. Two examples I usually give are genetically
engineered papaya that are resistant to the deadly Papaya ringspot virus and Bt
eggplant in Bangladesh that reduces the need to spray
chemical insecticides. Both genetically engineered crop varieties have improved
plant yields and the lives farmers.
Now in the world of COVID-19, more
people are familiar with viruses and their infective nature. This is a good
example, because some people may be interested to know that viruses also infect
plants. This allows you to then engage people by using their knowledge about
the vaccine for COVID-19 to explain the techniques used by plant scientists to
ward off pathogens. Also, something I realized while writing my book was, why
would the average American know a lot about farming? And, how much would they
actually know about it? This is also a really important thing to keep in mind
when talking about GMOs with people. Many people may not understand or know the
farming practices used today and what challenges farmers face.”
4. In your point of view, what are some of the toughest challenges
facing agriculture right now? And, how might agriculture look in 2040 to
address these problems?
“I think problems associated with
climate change, like increased flooding, which I’m now more aware of, droughts,
and unpredictable insect infestations, like the
fall armyworm sweeping through Africa, are going to be tough. There are
scientists and modelers trying to predict new infestation events, but it is
proving very difficult. The work we do now is similar to what breeders have
been doing for 100 years or so, but we now have to work smarter and faster to
keep up with all of the changes occurring around the world.
Additionally, we will have to
start growing more food, while reducing emissions. This is something that
wasn’t really being talked about when I first entered the field. It was more
about reducing chemical inputs. So, now we have to also think about enhancing
soil fertility, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and using water more
efficiently.
This is seemingly a daunting task;
however, Dr. Ronald is optimistic that scientists can work toward solutions.
“The field is rapidly advancing, and new technologies are now starting to be
developed and tested to address these problems.”
5. In your mind, what are some of the most intriguing questions
concerning pattern recognition receptors and their role in plant immunity?
“Well, I think an emerging topic
that is still sort of a black box is the relationship between development and
immunity. There is great work from Dr. Joanne Chory
and others on the SERK receptors that are involved in both immunity and
development. When this relationship was discovered years ago it was pretty
surprising, and now there are many great examples of the relationship between
development and immunity.
I think the other complicated
aspect of this area is that immunity has been traditionally thought of as a
linear concept—immunogen interacts with receptor, and this induces a linear
pathway that results in a response. However, we now know that the responses to immunogens
are much more complex than this. For instance, there are receptor complexes and
receptors that can double dip into immunity and development. I think trying to
sort out the balance and inner workings of this is really fascinating and will
be studied for a long time.”
6. For pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and resistance (R)
genes, what needs to be done to increase their use and efficacy against
pathogens?
“There are examples where
different resistance genes have been stacked [placing multiple R genes into a
plant], and this provided additive and, hopefully, more durable resistance. I
think some steps to improve the process will be trying to predict how resistant
and durable these added genes will be in a crop plant. This involves doing
epidemiological studies where you think about the population diversity of the
pathogen in the field. This allows you to predict the types of mechanisms the
pathogen has to overcome and the methods being placed into plants to confer
durable resistance. You really need to know the effector repertoire of a
pathogen population and the interactions they have with the receptors of
interest. This allows you to answer the question, ‘Are there pathogen strains
in the field that can already overcome the R gene(s) or PRR(s) being added?’
There really is no shortcut to the process of engineering durable resistance.
We are still learning a lot about
utilizing plant immune components to increase pathogen resistance. For example,
being able to introduce many R genes at a single time in a cassette of genes
would be a great step forward. Currently, it takes a long time to breed many R
genes into a population. If people become more accepting of genetic
engineering, this could decrease the time needed to introduce resistance genes
into plants, which is exciting.
For a long time, there has been the hypothesis
that PRRs that recognize conserved virulence factors or immunogens would be
more durable in the field than R genes. However, I don’t think this has been
very well validated or tested in the field. One reason may be because much of
the research on PRRs, like FLS2, is carried out on non-crops. So there are very
few studies that examine if these theories hold up in the field. Even for Xa21, where plants
carrying this gene have been grown in the field for years now, there really
hasn’t been any thorough epidemiological studies to determine if this
resistance is indeed more durable than the resistance provided by other types
of resistance genes such as NBS-LRR genes. Researchers have discovered
bacterial strains that evade Xa21 in the field; however, to my knowledge it is not known
if they become problematic to farmers. So, what does that mean? Does the
evolution of the ability to evade Xa21-mediated immunity result in strains that are
compromised in virulence somehow? You really can’t determine this unless you do
large-scale field trials that look at the pathogen population over time.”
|
| 
Ann Lichens Park, USDA-NIFA,(center, with President Kira Bowen and Immediate Past President Mary Palm) is a 2019
Fellow of The American Phytopathological Society (APS). This honor recognizes
distinguished contributions to plant pathology in one or more of the following
areas: original research, teaching, administration, professional and public
service, and extension and outreach.
1.
What area(s) of molecular plant-microbe interactions do you feel your
work has impacted most?
When I first started working for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the early 1990’s, genomics was just
beginning to infiltrate the agricultural sciences. By the late 1990’s, only a small number of agriculturally
relevant microorganisms had been sequenced. From 2000 to 2009, along with colleagues at the National Science
Foundation (NSF), I administered a Microbial Genome Sequencing competitive grants
program that supported the sequencing of well over a hundred agriculturally
relevant microorganisms. As a National
Program Leader at USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), I
have a “bird’s eye view” of the leading edge of plant-microbe
interactions. It has been thrilling to
see how the work supported in the Microbial Genome Sequencing Program has
advanced both basic and applied science related to plant pathology and to
interactions between plants and beneficial microbes. It has turned plant pathogens that were very
difficult to work on into “model systems.” More generally, it has been a
privilege to be able to observe the impact of genomic sciences on agriculture.
2.
What advice do you have for young scientists aspiring to achieve the
level of science that has major impact?
Whether a young scientist’s research is
basic, applied or both, she or he should keep in mind the work’s potential to
improve people’s lives. The connection
between a scientist’s work and the people who benefit from it may be direct or
indirect. It may benefit people by
improving the health of the environment in which we all live or the other
creatures that share our environment.The work may have impact in the short-term or in the long-term. Keep thinking about how that impact might be
achieved.
3.
When you were a postdoc, what had the largest influence on your decision
to join NIFA (CSRS)? Was there a “hot topic” that you considered researching
instead?
I enjoy focusing on the “big picture” and
my job allows me to do that. Molecular
biology and genomics have always been areas of science that have captured my
interest. It is fascinating to learn
about the clever ways that plants and microorganisms overcome the challenges
that they face in order to survive.
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Savithramma Dinesh-Kumar, University of California-Davis, (center, with Immediate Past President Mary Palm and President Kira Bowen) is the 2019 winner of the American Phytopathological Society Noel T. Keen Award. The Keen Award recognizes research excellence in molecular plant pathology. Nominees have made outstanding contributions and demonstrated sustained excellence and leadership in research that significantly advances the understanding of molecular aspects of host–pathogen interactions, plant pathogens or plant-associated microbes, or molecular biology of disease development or defense mechanisms.
1. What area(s) of molecular plant-microbe interactions do you feel your research has impacted most?
NLR immune receptor function in pathogen recognition and immune signaling; role of inter-organellar communications during immunity; and the role of autophagy in programmed cell death and immunity.
2. What advice do you have for young scientists aspiring to achieve the level of science that has major impact?
Try to be broad in your thinking and ask questions that will lead to significant advances or a paradigm shift rather than just making incremental advances. Don't hesitate to embark on questions that challenges established dogma(s).
3. When you were a postdoc, what had the largest influence on your decision to enter your specific research area in your permanent position? Was this a “hot topic” at the time, or did you choose to go in a different direction?
I joined Barbara Baker's group at UC Berkley/PGEC as a post-doc because I wanted to combine my virology knowledge with plant genetics and answer questions from the host side on how viruses exploit hosts. I was involved in cloning one of the first NLR immune receptors that confers resistance to a virus in Barbara Baker's group. Since we knew nothing about how NLRs function, I decided to work on this area in my permanent position. Although NLRs were cloned 25 years ago, it is still a hot topic today. I personally believe that in any area of research there is always a "hot topic" because there are so many fundamental unanswered questions in biology.
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| Saskia Hogenhout (John Innes Centre) is the 2019 recipient of the British Society of Plant Pathology’s RKS Wood Prize. The prize is named and awarded in honor of Professor RKS Wood to acknowledge his role in driving the establishment of the discipline “Physiological Plant Pathology”. The prize celebrates excellent science in the study of plant disease biology and its application in the protection of plants against pathogens.
1. What area(s) of molecular plant-microbe interactions do you feel your research has impacted most?
Genomics and mechanistic molecular research on insect-microbe-plant systems traditionally viewed as non-tractable, notably leafhopper-transmitted phytoplasma bacteria and the notorious aphid insect pests. Also, demonstrating that bacterial effectors act beyond suppressing plant immunity by reprogramming plant development and enhancing susceptibility to insect vectors. And, contributing evidence that phytoplasma effector genes lie on mobile genetic elements, knowledge that has been used in comparative phylogenomics analyses to show that effector genes move horizontally across phytoplasma genomes.
2. What advice do you have for young scientists aspiring to achieve the level of science that has major impact?
Take leadership in pursuing your passion, be open to and creatively use opportunities that are presented to you, enjoy learning, seek advice from your colleagues, at all levels, without losing sight of your own goals, be grateful for all you achieved so far, and be patient.
3. When you were a postdoc, what had the largest influence on your decision to enter your specific research area in your permanent position? Was this a “hot topic” at the time, or did you choose to go in a different direction?
I always have been intrigued by how parasites communicate with their hosts. Upon my PhD graduation, I considered to do a postdoc on Plasmodium (Malaria) - mosquitoes interactions and I wrote a research proposal for this. But then I got an opportunity to start my own research program on molecular insect-plant interactions at The Ohio State University. When Prof Lowell (Skip) Nault told me about his research program on spiroplasmas and phytoplasmas, I was sold. The rest is history.
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The Weihenstephan Science Prize of the City of Freising is awarded every two years in order to promote Freising as a university and science city of international standing, and at the same time to promote outstanding scientific achievements at the Freising-Weihenstephan location. Dr. Belkhadir received the award along with colleague Corinna Dawid. Both Belkhadir and Dawid worked as a team to study plant immune responses. More information can be found here.
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| The poster sessions at this year’s IS-MPMI Congress in Glasgow, Scotland, spotlighted just some of the amazing work that’s being done by the society’s members. Past IS-MPMI President Regine Kahmann organized a competition for poster presenters, and the MPMI journal sponsored prizes for the top-five graduate student-presented posters. More than 300 poster presentations were evaluated for visual aesthetics, content organization, speaker communication, and scientific impact. Each of this year’s winners received a congratulatory certificate and £100.
2019 Winners

Emile Gluck-Thaler, The Ohio State University
View their poster
View their abstract

Clemence Marchal, John Innes Centre
View their poster
View their abstract

Hector Montero, University of Cambridge
View their poster
View their abstract

Meenu Singla Rastogi, IBENS-CNRS, France
View their poster
View their abstract

Mamoru Matsumura, Nagoya University
Poster will be available at a later date.
View their abstract
A huge thank-you is owed to Regine for organizing the competition. Sixteen other judges graciously agreed to evaluate and rank the posters. This was not a small undertaking, and the judges deserve tremendous recognition for their volunteer efforts.
Poster Competition Judges
Maria Alvarez
Laura Grenville-Briggs Didymus
Peter Dodds
Caroline Gutjahr
Jeanne Harris
Ping He
Sheng Yang He
Saskia Hogenhout
Regine Kahmann
Thomas Kroj
Erh-Min Lai
Mary Beth Mudgett
Uta Paszhowski
Keehoon Sohn
Jens Stougaard
Yuanchao Wang
Alga Zuccaro
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