Project Description: 

We are interested in engineering disease resistance in commercial crops, such as pepper and tomato, by modifying specific genomic regions associated with disease resistance.  Bacterial spot disease, caused by Xanthomonas, is globally spreadand a major limiting factor of agricultural yield in tomato and pepper.  A recessive resistance gene,bs5, was first discovered in pepper and has been found to confer durable resistance in commercial varieties against bacterial spot disease. 

Previous work has physically mapped the gene in pepper and tomato genomes.  Compared to the susceptible allele, Bs5, the causative mutation of bs5 resistanceis a six nucleotide in-frame deletion.  Deployment of the bs5gene in tomato cultivars has the potential to confer disease resistanceagainst bacterial spot similar to pepper.  Tomato and pepper are not sexually compatible, thus classical plant breedingstrategies cannot be employed to establish bs5 resistance.

Our first aim is to testbs5 resistance in tomato by introducing the pepper bs5gene into tomato by using conventional plant transformation techniques. Our second aim is to introduce the six nucleotide deletion intothe native tomato Bs5through use of Cas9-mediated homology-directed repair.  All transgenic plants will be genotyped and characterized for resistance by infecting with Xanthomonas.  The goal of this research is to develop genome engineering methods to establish bs5resistance in commercial crops.

Department: 
PMB
Undergraduate's Role: 

The student will help generate and characterize the mutant varieties of tomato, which will include learning techniques for working in plant systems, pathogen systems, sterile technique, data collection, as well as standard molecular biology techniques such as PCR and gel electrophoresis.

Undergraduate's Qualifications: 

Student must be a 2nd year or older with a major in the biological sciences. Microbiology and Plant Biology majors are especially encouraged to apply. Student does not require previous lab experience, but must be familiar with basic laboratory calculations, such as molarity, serial dilutions, and metric conversions. Expected to work at approximately 6 hours a week (schedule can be flexible, but class schedules that allow 2-3 hour blocks of time are best).

Location: 
On Campus
Hours: 
6-9 hours