Death be not proud: Modulation of programmed cell death for disease/ stress tolerance in plants

Professor Marty Dickman is Director of the Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology at the Borlaug Center, Texas A&M University, USA. He was recently appointed Editor in Chief of Molecular Plant Pathology. His research concerns fungal-plant interactions.

Marty’s research programme centres on fundamental aspects of fungal-plant interactions. From the fungal side, the focus involves the identification of genes that regulate pathogenic development and signal communication. He is also the Principal Investigator on a grant for the recently completed genomic sequence of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

Marty’s other interest is in plant programmed cell death (apoptosis) and the extent to which parallels exist between plant and animal systems. They have recently shown that modulation of cell death can be an effective means to control certain diseases as well as abiotic stress. The overall goals of these studies are understanding the mechanisms that regulate plant apoptosis and implementing intervention or alternative strategies to generate transgenic plants with novel mechanisms of pathogen resistance and stress tolerance.

The seminar is being hosted by Professor Lesley Torrance.