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Mauricio Contreras

PhD Student
Sophien Kamoun Group

The molecular dialogue that underlies plant-pathogen interactions is wonderfully intricate and complex. Currently, I am studying how the oomycete Phytophthora infestans can co-opt autophagy pathways in its host to promote disease. Understanding the mechanisms through which pathogens in general evade immunity and successfully infect their hosts is key if we wish to engineer disease-resistant crops.

mauricio.contreras@tsl.ac.uk

Publications

Petre B, Contreras MP, Bozkurt TO, Schattat MH, Sklenar J, Schornack S, Abd-El-Haliem A, Castells-Graells R, Lozano-Duran R, Dagdas YF, Menke FLH, Jones AME, Vossen JH, Robatzek S, Kamoun S, Win J (2021)

Host-interactor screens of Phytophthora infestans RXLR proteins reveal vesicle trafficking as a major effector-targeted process. The Plant Cell, 2021;, koab069, https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab069

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Derevnina L, Contreras MP, Adachi H, Upson J, Cruces AV, Xie R, Sklenar J, Menke FLH, Mugford ST, MacLean D, Ma W, Hogenhout SA, Goverse A, Maqbool A, Wu CH, Kamoun S (2021)

Plant pathogens convergently evolved to counteract redundant nodes of an NLR immune receptor network. bioRxiv preprint Feb 03, 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.03.429184

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Białas A, Langner T, Harant A, Contreras MP, Stevenson CEM, Lawson DM, Sklenar J, Kellner R, Moscou MJ, Terauchi R, Banfield MJ, Kamoun S (2020)

Two NLR immune receptors acquired high-affinity binding to a fungal effector through convergent evolution of their integrated domain. bioRxiv preprint Jan 27, 2021 doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.26.428286

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Adachi H, Contreras M, Harant A, Wu CH, Derevnina L, Sakai T, Duggan C, Moratto E, Bozkurt TO, Maqbool A, Win J, Kamoun S (2019)

An N-terminal motif in NLR immune receptors is functionally conserved across distantly related plant species. eLife 2019;8:e49956 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.49956

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Adachi H, Contreras M, Harant A, Wu CH, Derevnina L, Sakai T, Duggan C, Moratto E, Bozkurt T, Maqbool A, Win J, Kamoun S (2019)

An N-terminal motif in NLR immune receptors is functionally conserved across distantly related plant species. bioRxiv preprint Jul 04, 2019 doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/693291

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Dagdas YF, Pandey P, Tumtas Y, Sanguankiattichai N, Belhaj K, Duggan C, Leary AY, Segretin M, Contreras M, Savage Z, Khandare VS, Kamoun S, Bozkurt TO (2018)

Host autophagy machinery is diverted to the pathogen interface to mediate focal defense responses against the Irish potato famine pathogen. Elife. 2018 Jun 22;7. pii: e37476. doi: 10.7554/eLife.37476.

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