Dr Peter Dodds: investigating the molecular basis of rust disease resistance

Dr Peter Dodds' research aims to elucidate how plants recognise and respond to pathogens with the ultimate aim of protecting important food crops from devastating diseases.

• 14 October 2008 | Updated 24 November 2011

Overview

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Dodds' focus is on fungal rust diseases, which constitute one of the most significant threats to cereal crops worldwide. The recent emergence of the highly virulent wheat stem rust strain Ug99 is of particular concern to world food security.

Dr Dodds' research uses the pathogenic interaction between flax and the flax rust fungus as a model for understanding the basis of rust disease as well as host resistance mechanisms. 

Disease resistance in this system is governed by the gene-for-gene model, where resistance depends on an interaction between host resistance (R) genes pathogen avirulence (Avr) genes.

Host R proteins constitute the recognition components of the plant innate immunity system and function to recognise specific proteins produced by the pathogen, the Avr proteins, and then induce a localised defence response that prevents infection.

Recent work has identified rust Avr proteins as members of a class of small secreted proteins that are translocated into host cells during infection as disease effectors that promote infection.

Current work focuses on:

• molecular basis of recognition of rust Avr proteins by plant R proteins
• the mechanism of R protein signal activation
• translocation of rust effector proteins into the plant cell
• function of rust effectors in disease.

Recent advances in the flax rust system are now being applied to important cereal rust diseases, particularly wheat stem rust, in order to develop improved control of these diseases in crop plants.

Background

Dr Dodds has worked at CSIRO since 1997 researching the molecular basis of rust resistance in flax.

Prior to this Dr Dodds' doctoral work was on self-recognition processes in self-incompatible plants. 

Academic qualifications

Dr Dodds has been awarded a:

• Bachelor of Science with Honours from the Department of Genetics, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1991
• Doctor of Philosophy from the Plant Cell Biology Research Centre, School of Botany, University of Melbourne, in 1996.

Achievements

Dr Dodds has received the following awards:

• Fenner Medal, Australian Academy of Science, 2007
• Peter Goldacre award, Australian Society of Plant Scientists, 2006
• CSIRO Medal as part of the Rust Disease Resistance Team, 2004.

He also has an affiliation as a Board member for the International Society for Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions.

See a list of scientific papers published by Dr Dodds on the next page