investigating the role of TOR kinase in the rice blast fungus

Rice blast disease is one of the most serious diseases affecting rice cultivation around the
world, destroying enough rice each year to feed 60 million people. The disease is caused by
the fungus Magnaporthe (Syn. Pyricularia) oryzae, which also threatens wheat and millet
production, affecting Asia and Africa in particular.
To cause plant infection, the rice blast fungus develops a specialised infection structure called
an appressorium, which develops enormous pressure that is applied at the leaf surface as
physical force to rupture the rice cuticle and allow the fungus to infect leaf tissue.
Understanding how appressoria develop and function provides a potential means to combat
rice blast disease by preventing initial infection. Appressorium development requires
programmed cell death of the fungal spore and recycling of its contents into the infection cell.
This process requires autophagy and is tightly coupled to cell cycle control.
The project will investigate the control of plant infection by TOR kinase, a nutrient-sensitive
central controller of cell growth. TOR is implicated in many human diseases and is the target
of rapamycin, a drug with many therapeutic uses. Its role in fungal pathogenesis is, however,
not well understood. The project will characterise TOR kinase in M. oryzae, investigate its
activation and regulatory control, identify its downstream phosphorylated protein targets, as
well as its ability to control infection-associated autophagy, which is essential for rice blast
disease.