Plants employ immune receptors to recognize invading pathogens and activate immune responses. We are interested in molecular mechanisms underlying NLR receptor mediated immunity and immune signaling pathways. Plant pathogens actively suppress host immune responses by delivery of an array of virulence effectors into host cells. Understanding how pathogen effectors suppress host immune responses, in particular host cell death, is an active research topic in the lab. Our researches mainly focus on three topics:
1. Molecular mechanisms of NLR-mediated immunity against fungal pathogens using barley and powdery mildew fungus interaction as a model system.
2. Mode of actions of fungal effectors and trans-species signaling molecules (such as small RNAs) between host and pathogens.
3. Molecular genetics of wheat/barley disease resistance against fungal pathogens.