Molecular Biology of Host-Specific Toxin Biosynthesis
{'Code': '08070400', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'MCB', 'LongName': 'Div Of Molecular and Cellular Bioscience'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Kamal Shukla', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
A number of plant pathogens produce low molecular weight                        chemicals which are toxic to plants.  Some toxins, called                       "host-specific", have the same host-range in vitro as the                       producing organism does in the field; that is, plants                           resistant to the pathogen are insensitive to that pathogen's                    toxin, and plant susceptible to the pathogen are sensitive to                   the toxin.  Host-specific toxins produced by fungi in the                       genus Cochliobolus (also known as Helminthosporium or                           Bipolaris) have been implicated in two catastrophic epidemics                   of cereal crops in the U.S. in the last forty years.  While                     in the last few years the chemical structures of most host-                     specific toxins have been determined, and their modes of                        action in some cases partly clarified, nothing is currently                     known about the biosynthesis of phytotoxins, nor about the                      molecular processes by which pathogens acquire the ability to                   make them.                                                                                                                                                      The objectives of this project are to identify and isolate                      enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of a host-specific                         toxin, to raise antibodies to these enzymes, and to isolate                     the genes which code for those enzymes.  The antibodies and                     cloned genes will be tools to study the molecular basis of                      race specificity and toxin production in plant pathogenic                       fungi.  Initial efforts will focus on the purification and                      characterization of two enzymes recently identified as being                    involved in the biosynthesis of a cyclic peptide toxin, HC-                     toxin, made by the fungal pathogen of maize, Cochliobolus                       carbonum.  The purified enzymes will be used to raise                           antibodies, and, following amino acid sequencing, to make                       synthetic oligonucleotides.  The antibodies and                                 oligonucleotides will be used to clone the genes for these                      enzymes.  The cloned genes will be used to compare isolates                     of the fungus which can an cannot make HC-toxin, and                            ultimately, to study at the molecular level the evolutionary                    processes by which pathogenic fungi acquire the ability to                      make toxins.***//
{'FirstName': 'Jonathan', 'LastName': 'Walton', 'PI_MID_INIT': None, 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Jonathan Walton', 'EmailAddress': 'walton@msu.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000454053', 'StartDate': '02/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'Michigan State University', 'CityName': 'EAST LANSING', 'ZipCode': '488242600', 'PhoneNumber': '5173555040', 'StreetAddress': '426 AUDITORIUM RD RM 2', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Michigan', 'StateCode': 'MI', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '07', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'MI07', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'R28EKN92ZTZ9', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': 'VJKZC4D1JN36'}
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{'Code': '1144', 'Text': 'Molecular Biophysics'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1987&All=true', 'xml': '8715608.xml'}