Collaborative Research: OPUS: Anther-smut as a Disease Model - Traversing Disciplines

University Of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

This OPUS project will produce a book synthesizing 20 years of NSF funded research on a model host-pathogen system: anther-smut disease caused by the fungal pathogen Microbotryum. This research has led to discoveries that have informed numerous areas of biology, including important aspects of human disease such as the impact of sexually transmitted diseases, the forces determining emergence of new diseases, and how these forces interact with changes at the genomic level. This project will provide college and high-school teachers online lab exercises and related background materials for using this system in teaching the principles of disease biology. Pathogens cause huge amounts of human misery, either directly or through the destruction of crops, domestic animals, and natural ecosystems. By producing a highly readable, entertaining, and informative book the investigators will show how the anther smut system has led to innovative discoveries that have traversed a wide range of disciplines. Numerous undergraduates and many graduate students have entered disease biology through hands-on research with this system, and this book will stimulate further research on principles central to some of the most severe threats to human health and welfare.