Cloning of Rhizoctonia solani candidate effector genes in Pichia pastoris expression vector
Student name: Ms Ishani Paithankar
Guide: Dr Ramakrishnan Sitaraman
Year of completion: 2017
Host Organisation: National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr Gopaljee Jha
Abstract: Fungal effectors are pathogen proteins injected into the plant cells by fungal
hyphae while penetrating the host tissues during infection. These proteins
suppress plant immune responses, often resulting in necrosis. Rhizoctoni solani
is a necrotrophic fungal pathogen involved in a broad-range of diseases in
various families of economically important crop plants. It is also a cause of the
highly destructive disease-sheath blight disease in rice, an important food source
and a source of income for farmers in a number of developing countries.
In this study, four hypothetical effecter proteins of R. solani were identified by
bioinformatic and transcriptomic analysis in association with sheath blight
infection in rice. The genes encoding these effectors were amplified by a set of
primers incorporating EcoRI and NotI sites for cloning in the Pichia pastoris
vector pPICZαA to facilitate gene expression in the methylotrophic yeast for
further functional analysis. Out of the four genes selected two genes – EF3ΔSP
and EF4ΔSP – were successfully cloned and transformed in the yeast.
