PhD, Phytopathology

Oomycetes cause serious diseases in plants and animals and are difficult to control. Managing oomycete diseases largely relies on chemical control. Public concerns about adverse effects of chemicals on environment and food safety are incentives for the development of a new generation compounds that are effective without side-effects on humans and environment. Features that are unique to oomycetes could be suitable targets for such novel drugs. We discovered that P. infestans possesses cytoskeleton structures named actin plaques, that have a relatively long life span and are restricted to oomycetes. They are part of the actin cytoskeleton but whether and how they interact with other actin structures, e.g. cables, is unknown. The cytoskeleton is involved in many important cellular processes, and hence an ideal target for pesticides. This project aims to decipher the function of actin plaques in growth and development of P. infestans and the role of these stable structures in pathogenicity. Knowing the function and key regulators of actin plaques, will pave the way towards development of next generation chemicals that target these novel oomycete specific structures.