Anna Avrova

Anna

Avrova

Cell and Molecular Sciences

Anna.Avrova@hutton.ac.uk

+44 (0)844 928 5428 (*)

The James Hutton Institute
Invergowrie
Dundee DD2 5DA
Scotland UK

Qualifications

MSc with Distinction (Biotechnology), St Petersburg, Russia, 1990
PhD (Plant Protection from pests and diseases), St Petersburg, Russia, 1994

Current research interests

A major focus of my research is the development of comparative and functional genomics for barley fungal pathogen Rhynchosporium commune (formerly known as R. secalis). It will advance identification and functional characterisation of pathogenicity factors (including effectors) vital for survival of R. commune on the leaf surface, penetration and establishment of a compatible interaction with the host plant barley. Pathogen effectors found to be crucial for the successful infection of barley represent good targets for host plant recognition to protect itself. Some pathogenicity determinants may also represent efficient fungicide targets if they are essential for the core biology of the pathogen during infection.

Scottish Government (RESAS)-funded R. commune genome and interaction transcriptome sequencing resulted in genome sequences of 7 R. commune strains with different race specificities as well as a set of R. commune transcripts abundant early (3 dpi) during the host infection.

Real time RT-PCR is being used for transcription profiling of R. commune genes in pre-infection stages and in planta. R. commune genes upregulated early during the interaction with barley are selected for functional characterisation using specific knock-outs and complementation or silencing.

Current Contract Research Activities

Scottish Government: Animal/Plant Health and Disease and Animal Welfare, Theme 6, workpackage 4: Prevention and control of important endemic and new diseases of plants.
Supervision of The James Hutton Institute/University of Aberdeen PhD studentship: The role of Rhynchosporium secalis cell wall proteins in cell wall integrity and pathogenicity.

Past research

April 2011-present: PI, Cell and Molecular Sciences, The James Hutton Institute- barley molecular pathologist.
October 2008-April 2011: PI, Plant Pathology Programme, SCRI- barley molecular pathologist.
2004-2008: Senior Post Doc, Plant Pathology Programme, SCRI - functional characterisation of appressoria and infection stage-specific proteins from Phytophtora infestans using dsRNA induced transient gene silencing.
2001-2004: Post Doc, Plant-Pathogen Interactions, SCRI - molecular bases of P. infestans pathogenicity and host resistance.
1998-2000: Post Doc, Fungal and Bacterial Plant Pathology Department, SCRI - bacterial pathogen of potato Pectobacterium atrosepticum and resistance to P. atrosepticum and P. infestans in potato.
1997-1998 - NATO Royal Society post-doctoral fellow, Fungal and Bacterial Plant Pathology Department, SCRI - Mechanisms of Solanum spp. resistance to P. atrosepticum and P. infestans.
1996-1997: Royal Society postdoctoral fellow, Department of Crop and Disease Management, IACR Rothamsted - tomato interaction with the symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae and the pathogenic oomycete Phytophthora nocotianae var. parasitica.
1994-1998: Scientific Officer, Department of Phytotoxicology, All Russia Institute of Plant Protection - biochemical characterisation of tomato - Alternaria solani interaction and in vitro selection of tomato plants for resistance to early blight.

Bibliography

Gilroy, E.M., Breen, S., Whisson, S.C., Squires, J., Hein, I., Kaczmarek, M., Turnbull, D., Boevink, P.C., Lokossou, A., Cano, L.M., Morales, J., Avrova, A.O., Pritchard, L., Randall, E., Lees, A., Govers, F., van West, P., Kamoun, S., Vleeshouwers, V.G., Cooke, D.E., Birch, P.R. 2011. Presence/absence, differential expression and sequence polymorphisms between PiAVR2 and PiAVR2-like in Phytophthora infestans determine virulence on R2 plants [1]. New Phytologist. 2011 May 3. (doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03736.x) [Epub ahead of print]
Haas, B.J., Kamoun, S., Zody, M.C., Jiang, R.H., Handsaker, R.E., Cano, L.M., Grabherr, M., Kodira, C.D., Raffaele, S., Torto-Alalibo, T., Bozkurt, T.O., Ah-Fong, A.M., Alvarado, L., Anderson, V.L., Armstrong, M.R., Avrova, A., Baxter, L., Beynon, J., Boevink, P.C., Bollmann, S.R., Bos, J.I., Bulone, V., Cai, G., Cakir, C., Carrington, J.C., Chawner, M., Conti, L., Costanzo, S., Ewan, R., Fahlgren, N., Fischbach, M.A., Fugelstad, J., Gilroy, E.M., Gnerre, S., Green, P.J., Grenville-Briggs, L.J., Griffith, J., Grünwald, N.J., Horn, K., Horner, N.R., Hu, C.H., Huitema, E., Jeong, D.H., Jones, A.M., Jones, J.D., Jones, R.W., Karlsson, E.K., Kunjeti, S.G., Lamour, K., Liu, Z., Ma, L., Maclean, D., Chibucos, M.C., McDonald, H., McWalters, J., Meijer, H.J., Morgan, W., Morris, P.F., Munro, C.A., O'Neill, K., Ospina-Giraldo, M., Pinzón, A., Pritchard, L., Ramsahoye, B., Ren, Q., Restrepo, S., Roy, S., Sadanandom, A., Savidor, A., Schornack, S., Schwartz, D.C., Schumann, U.D., Schwessinger, B., Seyer, L., Sharpe, T., Silvar, C., Song, J., Studholme, D.J., Sykes, S., Thines, M., van de Vondervoort, P.J., Phuntumart, V., Wawra, S., Weide, R., Win, J., Young, C., Zhou, S., Fry, W., Meyers, B.C., van West, P., Ristaino, J., Govers, F., Birch, P.R., Whisson, S.C., Judelson, H.S., Nusbaum, C. 2009. Genome sequence and analysis of the Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans. Nature 461, 393-398.
Avrova, A., Boevink, P., Young, V., Grenville-Briggs, L.J., van West, P., Birch, P.R.J. and Whisson, S.C. 2008. A novel Phytophthora infestans haustorium-specific membrane protein is required for infection of potato. Cellular Microbiology 10, 2271-2284.
Grenville-Briggs, L.J., Anderson, V.L., Fugelstad, J., Avrova, A.O., Bouzenzana, J., Williams, A., Wawra, S., Whisson, S.C., Birch, P.R.J., Bulone, V. and van West, P. 2008. Cellulose synthesis in Phytophthora infestans is required for appressorium formation and successful infection of potat,o. Plant Cell 20, 720-738.
Walker, C.L., Köppe, M., Grenville-Briggs, L.J., Avrova, A.O., Horner, N.R., Whisson, S.C., Birch, P.R.J. and van West, P. 2008. A putative DEAD-box RNA-helicase is required for normal zoospore development in the potato late blight pathogen Phytophthora infestans. Fungal Genetics and Biology 45, 954-962.
Judelson, H.S., Ah-Fong, A.M.V., Aux, G., Avrova, A.O., Bruce, C., Cakir, C., da Cunha, L., Grenville-Briggs, L., Latijnhouwers, M., Ligterink, W., Meijer, H.J.G., Roberts, S., Thurber, C.S., Whisson, S.C., Birch, P.R.J., Govers, F., Kamoun, S., van West, P. and Windass, J. 2008. Gene Expression profiling during the asexual development of the late blight pathogen Phytophthora infestans reveals a highly dynamic transcriptome. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 21, 433-447.
Grouffaud, S., van West, P., Avrova, A.O., Birch, P.R.J. and Whisson, S.C. 2008. Plasmodium falciparum and Hyaloperonospora parasitica effector translocation motifs are functional in Phytophthora infestans. Microbiology 154, 3743-3751.
Whisson, S.C., Boevink, P.C., Moleleki, L. , Avrova, A.O., Morales, J.G., Gilroy, E.M., Armstrong, M.R., Grouffaud, S., van West, P., Chapman, S., Hein, I., Toth, I.K., Pritchard, L. and Birch, P.R.J. 2007. A translocation signal for delivery of oomycete effector proteins into host plant cells [2]. Nature 450, 115-118. (doi:10.1038/nature06203)
Avrova, A.O., Whisson, S.C., Venter, E., De Luca, S., Hein, I., Pritchard, L., Beynon, J., Birch, P.R.J. 2006. A novel, non-protein coding infection-specific gene family is clustered throughout the genome of Phytophthora infestans. Microbiology 153, 747-759.
Armstrong, M.R., Whisson, S.C., Pritchard, L., Bos, J.I.B., Venter, E., Avrova, A.O., Rehmany, A.P., Böhme, U., Brooks, K., Cherevach, I., Hamlin, N., White, B., Fraser, A., Lord, A., Quail, M., Churcher, C., Hall, N., Berriman, M., Huang, S., Kamoun, S., Beynon, J.L., Birch, P.R.J. 2005. An Ancestral Oomycete Locus Contains Late Blight Avirulence Gene Avr3a, Encoding a Protein that is Recognised in the Host Cytoplasm. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 102, 7766-7771.
Whisson, S.C., Avrova, A.O., van West, P., Jones, J.T. 2005. A method for double-stranded RNA-mediated transient gene silencing in Phytophthora infestans. Molecular Plant Pathology 6, 153-163.
Whisson, S.C., Avrova, A.O., Lavrova, O., Pritchard, L. 2005. Families of short interspersed elements (SINEs) in the genome of the Oomycete plant pathogen, Phytophthora infestans. Fungal Genetic Biology 42, 351-365.
Grenville-Briggs, L.J., Avrova, A.O., Bruce, C.R., Williams, A., Whisson, S.C., Birch, P.R.J., van West, P. 2005. Elevated amino acid biosynthesis in Phytophthora infestans during appressorium formation and potato infection. Fungal Genetic Biology 42, 244-256.
Liu, Z., Bos, J., Armstrong, M., Whisson, S.C., da Cunha, L., Torto, T., Win, J., Avrova, A.O., Wright, F., Birch, P.R.J., Kamoun, S. 2005. Patterns of diversifying selection in the phytotoxin-like scr74 gene family of Phytophthora infestans. Molecular Biology and Evolution 22, 659-672.
Holeva, M.C., Bell, K.S., Hyman, L.J., Avrova, A.O., Whisson, S.C., Birch, P.R.J. and Toth, I.K. 2004. Use of a pooled transposon mutation grid to demonstrate roles in disease development for Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica putative type III secreted effector (DspE/A) and helper (HrpN) proteins. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interacttions 17, 943-950.
Avrova, A., Taleb, N., Rokka, V.-M., Heilbronn, J., Campbell, E., Hein, I., Gilroy, E., Cardle, L., Bradshaw, J.E., Stewart, H.E., Jauffeerally-Fakim, Y., Loake, G. and Birch, P.R.J. 2004. Potato oxysterol binding protein and cathepsin B are rapidly up-regulated in independent defence pathways that distinguish R gene-mediated and field resistances to Phytophthora infestans. Molecular Plant Pathology 5, 45-56.

Anna Avrova

Current research interests

Past research

Bibliography

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