PLANT DISEASES ARE AMONG THE GREATEST CONSTRAINTS TO CROP PRODUCTION WORLDWIDE. PATHOGENIC FUNGI, OOMYCETES, VIRUSES, BACTERIA, INSECTS, AND NEMATODES NEGATIVELY IMPACT AGRONOMIC AND HORTICULTURAL CROPS, AS WELL AS COMMERCIAL AND RECREATIONAL FORESTS. DESPITE THESE CONTINUAL THREATS, A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF THE REGULATORY PROGRAMS THAT RENDER A PLANT RESISTANT TO PATHOGENS HAS YET TO EMERGE, ESPECIALLY IN SMALL-GRAIN TEMPERATE CEREAL CROPS THAT ARE VITAL TO FOOD SECURITY AND THE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY. THIS PROJECT FOCUSES ON THE BARLEY-POWDERY MILDEW, HOST-MICROBE INTERACTION AND BUILDS ON RESOURCES ESTABLISHED WITH PREVIOUS FEDERAL FUNDS TO EXAMINE THE MECHANISMS UNDERLYING MOLECULAR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN DISEASE AGENTS AND THEIR HOSTS.AN INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM HAS BEEN ASSEMBLED WITH OUTSTANDING EXPERTISE IN CEREAL GENOMICS, HOST-MICROBE INTERACTIONS, BIOINFORMATICS, AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH. THE PROJECT WILL UTILIZE BOTH COMPUTATIONAL AND FUNCTIONAL APPROACHES TO INVESTIGATE THE TIME-DEPENDENT AND DEVELOPMENTAL CONTROL OF RESISTANCE TO FUNGAL PATHOGENS. THIS RESEARCH WILL RESULT IN A DETAILED UNDERSTANDING OF PATHOGEN-INDUCED MECHANISMS OF DEFENSE ACTIVATION AND PROVIDE NEW TARGETS FOR MOLECULAR BREEDING, RESULTING IN DISEASE RESISTANT CROPS.IN ADDITION, THE PROJECT WILL PROMOTE RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND DISSEMINATION TO A BROAD AUDIENCE, WHILE DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF AGRICULTURAL AND COMPUTATIONAL SCIENTISTS. TRANSFORMATIVE RESULTS FROM THIS RESEARCH WILL BE USED TO CRAFT MULTI-LEVEL CASE STUDIES FOR GENETICS AND BIOLOGY COURSES AND THUS, DELIVER BROAD EXPOSURE ON THE IMPACT OF PLANT PATHOGENS TO FOOD SECURITY. TO COMPLEMENT THESE BASIC RESEARCH ACTIVITIES, THE PROJECT WILL ESTABLISH IPATH, A SET OF INQUIRY-BASED CLASSROOM EXERCISES AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR TEACHERS TO EDUCATE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ON THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN GENES, PHENOTYPES AND PLANT DISEASE. ADDITIONAL EMPHASIS TO REACH UNDER-REPRESENTED GROUPS AND FIRST-GENERATION STUDENTS WILL BE ACHIEVED VIA INTEGRATION WITH SCIENCE BOUND ON THE IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS, PRESENTATION OF NEW ITAG/IPATH CONCEPTS AT CONFERENCES FOR MINORITIES IN AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES AND RELATED SCIENCES (MANNRS) AND ADVANCING CHICANOS/HISPANICS &AMP; NATIVE AMERICANS IN SCIENCE (SACNAS) TO ENSURE THE LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT OF A DIVERSE, GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE STEM WORKFORCE. RAPID PUBLIC ACCESS WILL BE ADVANCED BY INTEGRATION OF PROJECT DATA INTO NCBI-GEO, COUPLED WITH VISUALIZATION VIA THE GENOME BROWSERS AT THE GRAINGENES DATABASE FOR TRITICEAE AND AVENA.