Research - Host-Microbe Interactions

The Baker Lab seeks understanding of the molecular, genetic and biochemical bases of host-microbe interactions, and investigates mechanisms of pathogen-induced host disease and disease resistance. Our experimental system to study plant-pathogen recognition and signal transduction includes a diverse plant pathogen set and Solanaceae plant hosts. We anticipate our studies will lead to new, environmentally benign strategies for durable, broad-spectrum disease resistant crops.

Viruses not only have an intimate association with disease, but also represent superb tools to deconstruct the pathways that govern cell function. The Glaunsinger lab investigates the mechanisms by which γ-herpesviruses promote global decay of cellular mRNAs during lytic infection; we are especially interested in possible interplay between the viral host shutoff factor(s) and cellular mRNA degradation machinery. We anticipate that analyzing such interactions may provide key insight into how these viruses modulate their cellular environment and events that regulate mammalian mRNA turnover.

The Jackson Lab researches how viruses elicit plant diseases, and devises mechanisms for disease control in transgenic plants. We work with three viruses: a plus sense monopartite RNA virus, tomato bushy stunt virus; a plus sense tripartite RNA virus, barley stripe mosaic virus; and a minus strand plant rhabdovirus, sonchus yellow net virus. We use genetic and biochemical analysis to investigate replication and movement of these viruses and to determine virus-host interactions culminating in disease.

Our research group studies aspects of epiphytic bacteria that live on healthy plants' surfaces, emphasizing bacteria active in ice nucleation, causing frost damage to plants. We also study plant pathogenic bacteria that inhabit plant surfaces before infection. We use molecular genetic and ecological approaches to study how epiphytic bacteria interact with other microorganisms on plants, and with the plants on which they live. We seek to better understand adaptations epiphytic bacteria have evolved to exploit this unique habitat.

We study plant-pathogen interactions, especially the host's active, if unwitting, role in disease development. We work with powdery mildew disease on model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, using mutational analysis to identify host factors required for successful disease development. We also study a new area of plant-pathogen biology, non-host resistance that protects all members of a plant species from all members of a pathogen species. Results from both these projects highlight the importance of both active and passive defenses operating in the host cell wall.

We seek to obtain a genetic, bio-chemical, and cell biological understanding of the mechanisms that enable gram-negative plant pathogens to cause disease on plants, and that allow plants to counteract bacterial pathogens.

Vitamin B12 is essential to most animals but is synthesized only by certain prokaryotes. Using genetic, biochemical, and bioinformatics approaches, we are investigating three areas related to vitamin B12 in bacteria: 1) the biosynthesis of 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole (DMB), the least understood component of B12; 2) the function of B12 in the symbiotic interaction between the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti and its plant host, alfalfa, and 3) the structure and function of novel B12-like compounds found in nature

My Lab couples predictive biochemistry and analytical chemistry with forward and reverse genetics and genomics to discover small molecules and their biosynthetic pathways which alter defense-related regulatory pathways resulting in large-scale transcriptional changes and redirection of plant cellular metabolism. We use biochemical, molecular, theoretical and informatic approaches to analyze these molecules at cellular and organismic levels. We study the evolution of their biosynthesis, their regulation, and functional roles.

My Lab has two projects underway 1) studying Agrobacterium-specific proteins and their molecular mechanisms responsible for producing a DNA-protein complex capable of plant cell transformation, and 2) researching Plasmodesmata structure.

Associate of the Department

We seek to understand the molecular and cellular basis of microbial pathogenesis and the mechanisms used by the host to defend against infection. Specifically, the lab focuses on the interaction of the facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes and mammalian cells.