Plant-Pathogen Interactions

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Guest Editor

Alexander Lichius

inncellys GmbH

After completing his MSc in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Aachen, Germany, in 2004, Alex began to work as a research assistant at the Institute of Biophysics at the University of Dresden. He pursued his PhD from the University of Edinburgh and subsequently completed his PhD in Molecular Cell Biology of Filamentous Fungi with Prof. Nick D. Read at the Institute of Cell Biology in 2010 for his work on cell-cell fusion. Alex spent his first postdoc year at the Institute of Microbiology of CICESE in Baja California, Mexico, along with Prof. Ernestina Castro-Longoria and Prof. Meritxell Riquelme, investigating further details of cell polarity regulation. Back in Europe, he investigated the regulation of cellulase metabolism using live-cell imaging in Prof. Christian Kubicek's group at the Institute of Chemical Engineering at the University of Technology-Vienna, Austria. In 2016, Alex moved to the University of Innsbruck to help build a new research group in collaboration with Prof. Susanne Zeilinger. Since then, he's been a faculty member at the Institute of Microbiology where he investigates various aspects of the molecular cell biology of mycoparasitic fungus-fungus interactions.

Collection Overview

This JoVE methods collection will integrate the latest insights and newest technologies used for live-cell imaging of filamentous fungi and of plants. In doing so, it will identify the best approaches to achieve high-resolution 4D live-cell imaging of plant-fungus, plant-virus, and plant-bacteria interactions in “close-to-nature” artificial soil or a similar setting.

From a technical point of view this will include:

(1) co-cultivation of plant seedlings with plant-symbiotic/mycoparasitic fungi and plant-pathogenic fungi,

(2) injury- and stress-free sample preparation for fluorescence microscopy, and

(3) integration of wide-field, zoom, confocal, and probably light-sheet microscopy.

From a contextual point of view this will include:

(1) the current state-of-the-art of 4D live-cell imaging of the plant root system, of fungal hyphae and their interactions,

(2) development of the plant root system in artificial soil,

(3) development of the fungal mycelium in artificial soil, and

(4) symbiotic, parasitic, and pathogenic interactions between plants, mycoparasites and pathogenic plant fungi.

The scientific focus will rather be on methodological/technological approaches and what has been improved or how it can be improved, rather than on deeper insights into the signaling mechanisms of the underlying cellular regulation of plant-pathogen interactions. The overall aim is to provide the professional audience from both fields with the latest technological possibilities to advance their research efforts.