Post-doctoral researcher: Yohann Daguerre
Contract period: November 2014 – October 2015

Post-doctoral researcher:  Sebastian Wittulsky
Contract period:  June 2013 – November 2014

Research Topic:  Understanding Signaling Pathways in Ectomycorrhizal Symbiosis

Research team and supervising scientists:
Research team:  Ecogenomics of interactions – UMR 1136 Interactions Arbres/Micro-organismes (IAM) Inra – Université de Lorraine,  U.S. DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Supervisor:  Francis Martin
Co-supervisor:  Claire Veneault-Fourrey

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Context  – To investigate how fungal effectors modulate plant immunity and/or metabolism to establish mutualistic interaction. Recent studies have shown that mutualistic fungi use secreted proteins called effectors to communicate with their host, similar to plant-pathogenic fungi (Plett et al., 2011; Requena et al., 2011, Zuccaro et al., 2011). Our working model is the interaction between poplar and the ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor.

Objectives  – The project will combine different complementary approaches such as plant genetic (poplar transformation), molecular biology and biochemistry.

Methodological approaches – In part, this project will focus on the jasmonic acid-dependent pathway.