Kim Hammond-Kosack

Professor Kim Hammond-Kosack

Programme Leader: Wheat Pathogenomics

Molecular and genetic studies on fusarium ear blight disease of wheat

My group's research focus is a disease of wheat ears caused by the Ascomycete fungal pathogens F. graminearum and F. culmorum. Fusarium ear blight (FEB), commonly known as head scab in the USA, can have a profound effect on wheat grain quality and food safety due to the production of trichothecene mycotoxins (US Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative). In 2003, the complete genome of F. graminearum was sequenced to a 11X coverage by the Broad Institute, USA (Fusarium group Database).

Fusarium ear blight symptoms 20 days after point inoculation of a susceptible cultivar (right) and the comparable non-inoculated control (left).

The Fusarium scorecard

Here is a link to The Fusarium scorecard

Specific Research Projects include:

Transcriptome analysis of the response of susceptible and resistant wheat germplasm to Fusarium ear blight infection.
Identification of wheat germplasm and quantitative trait loci (QTL) that confer restricted Fusarium mycotoxin accumulation in planta.
Defining the key plant defence genes and signalling pathways required to prevent floral infection and/ or contain hyphae in floral tissue
Exploration of the plant and fungal genes controlling the induction of mycotoxin production in planta.
Determining the effect of fungal biotic stress on specific grain quality traits.
Identification of F. graminearum pathogenicity genes required to cause disease on wheat ears and stem bases.
Development of specific F. graminearum reporter strains to explore in planta the spatial and temporal development of fungal hyphae and mycotoxin production.

The experimental approaches include functional genomics, genetics, biochemistry and bioinformatic analyses and have involved cereal and non-cereal host plant species and both fusarium species. In addition we have evaluated many different wheat germplasms under both field and non-field conditions to identify lines that exhibit good resistance and low mycotoxin levels in the harvested grain.

Our overall objective is to enhance our understanding of the plant and fungal genes controlling and modulating plant infection and deoxynivalenol (DON) mycotoxin synthesis. This knowledge will assist in the development of a range of environmentally benign management practices to control this globally important disease.

Current Group members


Dr Martin Urban	Dr Rohan Lowe	Dr Gail Canning

Dr Melanie Jubault	Mr Andrew Beacham	Mr Neil Brown

Ms Elke Anzinger	Ms Vanessa McMillan	Ms Stephanie Heard
All e-mail addresses are in the form firstname.lastname@bbsrc.ac.uk

Funding sources

BBSRC Core Strategic Grant (MU, TB, KHK)
BBSRC-CASE studentship (AB and NB)
BBSRC Responsive Mode Grant (AC)
BBSRC Metabolomics Special Initiative (RL and GC)
EU Framework VI Bioexploit (SL)
Industry

Collaborators

The F. graminearum pathogenicity gene study is undertaken in collaboration with Dr Frances Trail's group, Departments of Plant Biology and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing MI 48824, USA.

A Selection of the group's publications

Fusarium Ear Blight Research

Beacham, A. M., Antoniw, J. and Hammond-Kosack, K. E. (2009) A genomic fungal foray. The Biologist 56, 98-105. download this article

Cuzick, A., Maguire, K. and Hammond-Kosack K. E. (2009) Lack of the plant signalling component SGT1b enhances disease resistance to Fusarium culmorum in Arabidopsis buds and flowers. New Phytologist 181, 901-912.

Cuzick, A., Lee, S., Gezan, S. and Hammond-Kosack, K. E. (2008) NPR1 and EDS11 contribute to host resistance against Fusarium culmorum in Arabidopsis buds and flowers. Molecular Plant Pathology 9, 697-704.

Cuzick, A., Urban, M. and Hammond-Kosack, K. E. (2008) Fusarium graminearum gene deletion mutants map1 and tri5 reveal similarities and differences in the pathogenicity requirements to cause disease on Arabidopsis and wheat floral tissue. New Phytologist 177, 990-1000.

Cuomo, C. A., Gueldener, U., Xu, J. R., Trail, F., Turgeon, B. G., Di Pietro, A., Walton, J. D., Ma, L. J., Baker, S. E., Rep, M., Adam, G., Antoniw, J., Baldwin, T., Calvo, S., Chang, Y. L., DeCaprio, D., Gale, L. R., Gnerre, S., Goswami, R. S., Hammond-Kosack, K., Harris, L. J., Hilburn, K., Kennell, J. C., Kroken, S., Magnuson, J. K., Mannhaupt, G., Mauceli, E., Mewes, H. W., Mitterbauer, R., Muehlbauer, G., Munsterkotter, M., Nelson, D., O'Donnell, K., Ouellet, T., Qi, W. H., Quesneville, H., Roncero, M. I. G., Seong, K. Y., Tetko, I. V., Urban, M., Waalwijk, C., Ward, T. J., Yao, J. Q., Birren, B. W. and Kistler, H. C. (2007) The Fusarium graminearum genome reveals a link between localized polymorphism and pathogen specialization. Science 317, 1400-1402.

Hammond-Kosack, K. E., Urban, M., Baldwin, T., Daudi, A., Rudd, J. J., Keon, J., Lucas, J. A., Maguire, K., Kornyukhin, D., Jing, H. C., Bass, C. and Antoniw, J. (2004) Plant pathogens: how can molecular genetic information on plant pathogens assist in breeding disease resistant crops? Proceedings of the 4th International Crop Science Congress, Brisbane, Australia.

Urban, M., Mott, E., Farley, T., Phillips, W. and Hammond-Kosack K. E. (2003) The MAP1 gene is essential for the pathogenicity of the ear blight fungus Fusarium graminearum. Molecular Plant-Pathology 4, 347-360.

Urban, M., Daniels, S., Mott, E. and Hammond-Kosack, K. E. (2002) Arabidopsis is susceptible to the cereal head blight fungal pathogens Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium culmorum. The Plant Journal 32, 961-973.

MAP1 mutant - perithecia and no perithecia

Plant Defence Signalling in Arabidopsis

List of Arabidopsis mutants and transgenes known to compromise or enhance plant defence without causing spontaneous cell death/lesion formation.

Latest update April 2003 (http://www.rothamsted.bbsrc.ac.uk/ppi/staff/khkReviews.html)

PHI-base: Pathogen Host Interactions Database

This database contains expertly curated molecular and biological information on genes proven to affect the outcome of pathogen-host interactions. It can be accessed at: http://www.phi-base.org/

Winnenburg, R., Urban, M., Beacham, A., Baldwin, T. K., Holland, S., Lindeberg, M., Hansen, H., Rawlings, C., Hammond-Kosack, K. E. and Köhler, J. (2008) PHI-base update: Additions to the Pathogen Host Interaction Database. Nucleic Acids Research 36 (Database issue), D572-D576.

Baldwin, T. K., Winnenburg, R., Urban, M., Rawlings, C., Köhler, J. and Hammond-Kosack, K. E. (2006) The Pathogen-Host Interactions database (PHI-base) provides insights into generic and novel themes of pathogenicity. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactinons 19, 1451-1462.

Winnenburg, R., Baldwin, T. K., Urban, M., Rawlings, C., Köhler, J. and Hammond-Kosack, K. E. (2006) PHI-base: a new database for pathogen host interactions. Nucleic Acids Research 34 (Database issue), D459-D464.

Reviews and Book Chapters on Plant Disease Resistance Genes and Plant Defence

Hammond-Kosack, K. E. and Kanyuka, K. (2007) Resistance genes (R genes) in plants. In: Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester http://www.els.net/ [DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0020119] download this article

Hammond-Kosack, K. E. and Parker, J. E. (2003) Deciphering plant-pathogen communication: Fresh perspectives for molecular resistance breeding. Current Opinions in Biotechnology 14, 177-193. download this article

Hammond-Kosack, K. E. and Jones, J. D. G. (2000) Responses to Plant Pathogens In: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants. BB Buchanan, W Gruissem and RL Jones (eds.), pp. 1102- 1156, American Society of Plant Physiology, Rockville, Maryland, USA.

Hammond-Kosack, K. E. and Jones, J. D. G. (1997) Plant disease resistance genes. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 48, 573-605. download this article

Hammond-Kosack, K. E. and Jones, J. D. G. (1996) Inducible plant defence mechanisms and resistance gene function. The Plant Cell 8, 1773-1791.

Tomato Cf- genes : Cladosporium fulvum research undertaken whilst at The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, UK in the group of Professor Jonathan Jones

Panter, S.N., Hammond-Kosack K.E., Harrison, K., Jones, J.D.G. and Jones, D.A. (2002) Developmental control of promoter activity is not responsible for mature onset of Cf-9B-mediated resistance to leaf mold in tomato. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 15, 1099-1107.

Brading, P., Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Parr, A. and Jones, J.D.G. (2000) Salicylic acid is not required to confer tomato Cf-gene-mediated resistance to the fungus Cladosporium fulvum. The Plant Journal 23, 305-318.

Romeis, T., Tang, S., Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Piedras, P., Blatt, M. and Jones, J. (2000). Early signalling events in the Avr9/Cf-9-dependent plant defence response. Molecular Plant Pathology 1, 3-8.

Durrant, W.E., Rowland, O., Piedras, P., Hammond-Kosack, K.E. and Jones, J.D.G. (2000) cDNA-AFLP reveals a striking overlap in race-specific resistance and wound response gene expression profiles. The Plant Cell 12, 963-977.

Thomas, C.M., Tang, S., Hammond-Kosack, K.E. and Jones, J.D.G. (2000) Comparison of the hypersensitive response induced by the tomato Cf-4 and Cf-9 genes in Nicotiana spp. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 13, 465-469.

Blatt, M.R., Grabov, A., Brearley, J., Hammond-Kosack, K.E. and Jones, J.D.G. (1999). K+ channels of Cf-9 transgenic tobacco guard cells as targets for Cladosporium fulvum Avr9 elicitor-dependent signal transduction. The Plant Journal 19, 453-462.

Moyen, C., Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Jones, J., Knight M.R. and Johannes, E. (1998) Systemin triggers an increase of cytoplasmic calcium in tomato mesophyll cells: Ca²⁺ mobilization from intra- and extracellular compartments. Plant Cell Environment 21, 1101-1111

Piedras, P., Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Harrison, K. and Jones, J. (1998) Rapid, Cf-9- and Avr9-dependent production of active oxygen species in tobacco suspension cultures. Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions 11, 1155-1166.

Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Tang, S.J., Harrison, K. and Jones, J. (1998) The tomato Cf-9 disease resistance gene functions in tobacco and potato to confer responsiveness to the fungal avirulence gene product Avr9. The Plant Cell 10, 1251-1266.

Torres, M.A., Onouchi, H., Hamada, S., Hammond-Kosack, K.E. and Jones, J. (1998) Six Arabidopsis thaliana homologues of the human respiratory burst oxidase (gp91(phox)) Plant Journal 14, 365-370.

Parniske, M., Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Golstein, C., Thomas, C.M., Jones, D.A., Harrison, K., Wulff, B.B.H. and Jones, J.D.G. (1997) Novel disease resistance specificities result from sequence exchange between tandemly repeated genes at the Cf-4/9 locus of tomato. Cell 91, 821-832.

Groom, Q.J., Torres, M.A, Fordham-Skelton, A.P., Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Robinson, N.J. and Jones, J.D.G. (1996) rbohA, a rice homologue of the mammalian gp91phox respiratory burst oxidase gene. The Plant Journal 10, 515-522.

May, M., Hammond-Kosack, K.E. and Jones, J.D.G.(1996) Involvement of reactive oxygen species, glutathione metabolism and lipid peroxidation in the Cf- gene-dependent defence response of tomato cotyledons induced by race-specific elicitors Cladosporium fulvum . Plant Physiology 110, 1367-1379.

Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Silverman, P., Raskin, I. and Jones, J.D.G. (1996) Race-specific elicitors of Cladosporium fulvum induce changes in cell morphology, and the synthesis of ethylene and salicylic acid, in tomato plants carrying the corresponding Cf-disease resistance gene. Plant Physiology 110, 1381-1394.

Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Staskawicz, B.J., Jones, J.D.G. and Baulcombe D. (1995) Functional expression of a fungal avirulence gene from a modified potato virus X genome. Molecular Plant - Microbe Interactions 8, 181-185.

Hammond-Kosack, K.E. and Jones, J.D.G. (1994) Incomplete dominance of tomato Cf genes for resistance to Cladosporium fulvum. Molecular Plant - Microbe Interactions 7, 58-70.

Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Jones, D.A. and Jones, J.D.G. (1994) Identification of genes required in tomato for full Cf-9 dependent resistance to Cladosporium fulvum. The Plant Cell 6, 361-374.

Ashfield, T., Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Harrison, K. and Jones, J.D.G. (1994) Cf gene-dependent induction of a b-1,3 glucanase promoter in tomato plants infected with Cladosporium fulvum. Molecular Plant - Microbe Interactions 7, 645-656.

Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Harrison, K. and Jones, J.D.G. (1994) Developmentally regulated cell death on expression of the fungal avirulence gene Avr9 in tomato seedlings carrying the disease resistance gene Cf-9. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 91, 10445-10449.

Jones, D.A., Thomas, C.M., Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Balint-Kurti, P.J. and Jones, J.D.G. (1994) Isolation of the tomato Cf-9 gene for resistance to Cladosporium fulvum by transposon tagging. Science 266, 789-793.

Oliver, R.P., Farman, M.L., Jones, J.D.G. and Hammond-Kosack, K.E. (1993) Use of fungal transformants expressing b - glucuronidase activities to detect infection and measure hyphal biomass in plant tissues. Molecular Plant - Microbe Interactions 6, 521-525.