** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** 1. PROBLEM TO BE ADDRESSED:HUMAN VIRAL DISEASES SUCH AS HIV, WEST NILE VIRUS, EBOLA, ZIKA VIRUS, SARS COV2 (COVID19); ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT BACTERIAL PATHOGENS, E.G., MRSA, TUBERCULOSIS AND GONORRHEA; FUNGAL DEVASTATIONS, E.G., WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME (WNS), AN EMERGENT DISEASE OF HIBERNATING BATS, AND CHYTRIDIOMYCOSIS IN AMPHIBIANS. SUCH ARE BUT A FEW EXAMPLES OF EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES THAT CONJURE UP FRIGHTENING IMAGES AND PROMPT HUMAN CONCERNS ABOUT THE NEXT PANDEMIC. IN THIS REGARD, THE EMERGENCE OF PLANT PATHOGENIC FUNGI IS THE MOST DANGEROUS THREAT TO AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY. SOME OF THESE PATHOGENS PRESENT HIGH HOST SPECIFICITY BUT THEY CAN RAPIDLY EVOLVE NEW VIRULENCE OR SHIFT TO NOVEL HOSTS, CAUSING DEVASTATION AS EMERGING DISEASES (E.G, NEW RESISTANT WHEAT RUST; FUSARIUM WILT OF BANANA, POPULARLY KNOWN AS PANAMA DISEASE). UNDERSTANDING THE MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF HOST-PATHOGEN INTERACTIONS AND COEVOLUTION IS OF STRONG FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE BUT ALSO OF IMPORTANCE FOR APPLIED MANAGEMENT, PARTICULARLY IN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE OR FORESTRY. HOWEVER, EVOLUTIONARY TRAJECTORIES CAN BE DIFFICULT TO STUDY IN CROP PATHOGENS, BECAUSE THEY ARE OFTEN CLONAL, INVASIVE AND RESULT FROM RECENT SHIFTS ONTO CROPSTHIS PROJECT ALLOWS THE EXAMINATION OF ORGANISMS THAT CAUSE DISEASE ON HOST PLANT SPECIES OF A WIDE RANGE. UNLIKE THE USUAL MODELS USED IN AGRICULTURE STUDIES, SINCE THE HOSTS ARE WILD PLANT SPECIES, THEY ARE MORE GENETICALLY DIVERSE THAN THOSE VARIETIES MORE OFTEN USED IN AGRICULTURAL STUDIES. THUS, THE STUDIES WILL PROVIDE A BROADER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW PLANTS RESPOND TO INFECTION BY DIFFERENT FUNGAL PARASITE SPECIES. SINCE IT HAS BEEN OBSERVED THAT SOME OF THE FUNGI WITH WHICH WE WORK ARE ABLE TO JUMP TO CLOSELY-RELATED OR NEW HOSTS, THESE EXPERIMENTS MAY PROVIDE, NOT ONLY A SENSE OF WHAT MAKES A SUSCEPTIBLE VS. RESISTANT HOST, BUT ALSO WILL ALLOW PREDICTION OF EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES THROUGH HOST SHIFTS.2. BASIC METHODS USED.THE METHODS USED IN THESE STUDIES WILL PROVIDE A GLOBAL PICTURE OF BOTH THE FUNGAL PARASITE AND THE RESPONSE OF ITS HOST SPECIES. WE UTILIZE SOPHISTICATED MICROSCOPIC METHODS TO FOLLOW THE INFECTION OF NORMAL HOST PLANTS, COMPARED WITH LESS-SUITABLE OR NON-HOSTS. IN THIS WAY, WE CAN OBSERVE MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES IN FINE DETAIL. IN ADDITION, WE COMPARE THE OVERALL INTERACTIONS BETWEEN FUNGAL PARASITE PRODUCED PROTEINS AND HOST PLANT TARGET PROTEINS; SUCH ANALYSES WILL PROVIDE AN IN-DEPTH PICTURE OF THESE INTERACTORS AND AID IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE PARASITE MANIPULATES ITS HOST AND FACILITATES THE COMPLETION OF ITS LIFECYCLE. ADDITIONALLY, THE COMPARISONS BETWEEN DIFFERENT PARASITE/HOST SYSTEMS WILL INFORM OUR UNDERSTANDING OF VARIATIONS IN THE PROCESS WHEN INFECTIONS BY THE PARASITE ARE NOT OPTIMAL, LEADING TO HOST RESISTANCE. FINALLY, WE ADD AN EXAMINATION OF THE INVENTORY OF GENE EXPRESSION FOR BOTH FUNGAL PARASITE AND HOST, AGAIN ALLOWING US TO BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW GENE EXPRESSION DIFFERENCES I,N BOTH PARTICIPANTS IN THIS INTERACTION MAY AFFECT THE OUTCOMES, I.E., LEADING TO SUCCESSFUL INFECTION AND REPRODUCTION OF THE FUNGUS, OR ALTERNATIVELY, PREVENTING FURTHER DEVELOPMENT AND DISEASE, BY ALLOWING THE HOST PLANT TO BLOCK THE FUNGUS AS SOME STAGE(S) IN THE NORMAL INFECTION PROCESS.3. ULTIMATE GOALS TO BE ACHIEVED AND POTENTIAL BENEFIT TO SOCIETYOUR OBJECTIVES PROVIDE AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO ENSURE THAT GROUNDBREAKING DISCOVERIES IN AGRICULTURE-RELATED SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGIES REACH THE PEOPLE WHO CAN PUT THEM INTO PRACTICE. SO SAYING, WE SEEK INSIGHTS INTO DIFFERENTIAL HOST SUSCEPTIBILITY TO INFECTION BY FUNGAL PATHOGENS, USING WILD HOST MODELS TO PROVIDE GREATER PREDICTIVE POTENTIAL ON EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF CROP PLANTS. MOREOVER, WE SEEK TO DISSEMINATE THESE FINDINGS TO BOTH THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY AND THE MORE GENERAL POPULATION THOUGH OUTREACH PROGRAMS IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES.