HOST-IT: Tricking pathogens into revealing their toxic secrets

Can we easily trick pathogenic microbes to reveal how their toxins kill plant cells? While many toxins from plant pathogens are key drivers of cell death, the way that they kill cells remains poorly understood due to technical limitations. I propose a cutting-edge system to address these important and outstanding questions. In this system, I will combine innovative synthetic chemistry and molecular biology, generating unique chemical markers that microbes will take up to tag their own toxins. This system will underpin a general strategy for researchers to track toxins in cells and identify toxin-protein interactions in real time. Results will reveal unprecedented insights into how microbes cause cell death in plants, enabling new strategies to improve crop protection.