Research Director

Outline

Pathogens take nutrients from hosts during infection. Especially, phytopathogens absorb sugars from host plants as a major carbon source. On the other hand, we recently revealed that plants counteract pathogen’s sugar gain by actively retrieving extracellular sugars. Here, I will study more detailed molecular mechanisms of sugar transport in plants during defense activation. In addition, I will analyze how pathogens acquire sugars from host plants. Taken these studies together, I will attempt to develop a seed technology for disease control in crops.