Achievement

Collaboration involving multiple trainees and PIs led to discovery of a compound that provides plants immunity to pathogens. Discovery and characterization of synthetic elicitors of plant defense responses by fellows Knoth and Salus (biologists) involved interactions between faculty in biology (Eulgem), analytical chemistry (Larive), organic chemistry (Pirrung) and cheminformatics (Girke). A compound identified in a high-throughput screen of 42,000 compounds provides protection from infection by oomycete and bacterial pathogens. Application of this compound to uninfected plants provides temporal immunity. The compound is provisionally patented; Knoth et al., in press). The bioassay studies developed by Knoth and Salus will be used by other IGERT fellows including an organic chemist (Xu) who will evaluate synthetic derivatives of Syringolin A, a natural product and proteosome inhibitor produced by a plant bacterial pathogen. These interdisciplinary projects involve undergraduates.