Publication list

CV

Fungal interactions in relation to plant pathology and biological disease control

Various microorganisms are constant threats to crop production on a global scale. Bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, viruses and nematodes cause yield losses and quality reduction before harvest, as well as during storage. Understanding the mechanisms of disease development is important when deciding strategies for efficient disease control in agriculture. Fungal infections on plants have traditionally been controlled by chemical fungicides, but concerns about their impact on the environment makes biological control an attractive alternative measure of controlling and managing plant diseases. The current focus of my research is to understand mechanisms that parasitic fungi use to interact with plant hosts and other fungi. Interaction biology has the potential to generate knowledge important for applied questions in agriculture and industry such as identification of fungal virulence determinants, mechanisms of mycoparasitism and enzyme discovery and design for biotechnological applications. In addition, interactions between parasites and their hosts can lead to a co-evolutionary arms race which is an interesting area in evolutionary biology. By considering the evolutionary context of an organism we can interpret molecular, genomic and ecological data in a more comprehensive way.

Current projects include;

• Mechanisms of fungal-fungal interactions
• Genome analysis of the mycoparasite Clonostachys rosea
• Host range determining factors in closely related Phytophthora species
• Three-way interactions between Fusarium species, their plant hosts and biocontrol organisms
• Evolution of reproductive systems in Neurospora
• Secondary metabolite production in the forest tree pathogen Heterobasidion annosum
• Transcriptome analysis of the Norway spruce – Heterobasidion pathosystem