SCLEROTINIA SCLEROTIORUM, OR WHITE MOLD, IS A DEVASTATING PATHOGEN OF A NUMBER OF CROPS THAT THREATENS FOOD SECURITY AROUND THE WORLD. PREVIOUS RESEARCH HAS SHOWN THAT SOME PLANTS CAN SUCCESSFULLY DEFEND AGAINST WHITE MOLD BY PRODUCING A LARGE AMOUNT OF CERTAIN COMPOUNDS WHICH ARE SAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION, BUT ARE TOXIC TO THE PATHOGEN. GIVEN THE SUCCESS OF THIS PATHOGEN IN INFECTING CROPS, WE KNOW THAT IT IS CAPABLE OF DETOXIFYING THESE COMPOUNDS AT LOW LEVELS, BUT THE MECHANISM OF THIS DETOXIFICATION IS CURRENTLY UNKNOWN. THIS PROJCT AIMS TO CHARACTERIZE THE MECHANISMS BEING USED BYWHITE MOLD TO DETOXIFY PLANT DEFENSE COMPOUNDS AND POTENTIALLY ASSIST IN EFFORTS TO DEVELOP MORE RESISTANT PLANT VARIETIES IN THE FUTURE.TO ADDRESS THIS, OUR LAB HAS IDENTIFIED TWO GENES IN THE WHITE MOLD GENOME WHICH HAVE A LIKELY ROLE IN THIS DETOXIFICATION ACTIVITY. USING A COMBINATION OF APPROACHES, WE WILL WORK TO PROVE THAT THESE GENES ARE DRIVERS OF THIS ACTIVITYAS WELL AS IDENTIFYING WHICH PLANTDEFENSE COMPOUNDS THEY ARE MOST IMPORTANT IN DETOXIFYING. FURTHERMORE, AS THESE GENES APPEAR TO BE IMPORTANT VIRULENCE FACTORS FOR THE PATHOGEN, WE WILL ASSESS THEIR VALUE AS TARGETS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW, GENE EDITED PLANT VARIETIES WITH ROBUST RESISTANCE TO WHITE MOLD.