Jonathan Jones

We are interested in how plants resist disease, and in how resistance is overcome by pathogens.

To suppress host defence, pathogens secrete effector proteins into plant cells or into their apoplastic spaces. How these effectors work, and the identity of their targets in the host, help us understand plant defence mechanisms. Plant immune receptors detect effectors, directly or indirectly and activate defence upon detection; we want to understand how they work.

We work on the following problems:

1) How do plant NLR immune receptors recognise pathogen effectors and then activate defence?

2) What are the effectors of the white rust pathogen (Albugo candida), and how do they suppress host defences?

3) Can we find and clone new immune receptors from wild Solanum species that elevate resistance to important potato diseases, particularly late blight?

Our primary interest is in understanding how these immune receptors recognise effectors and how they convert that recognition into defence activation. We are also interested in structure-guided methods to extend immune receptor recognition capacity.