Professor of Fungal Biology

Purdue University
Botany and Plant Pathology, Lilly Hall
915 West State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2054

Office:  WSLR 222
Phone:  (765) 496-6918
FAX:      (765) 494-5896
E-mail:   

Area: Fungal Biology - Characterization of infection-related signaling pathways and genes important for fungal-plant interactions in Magnaporthe grisea and Fusarium graminearum

Rice Blast Disease	Appressoria formed by Magnaporthe grisea (A: Appressorium; C: conidium; G: Germ tube)
Infection Cycle of the Rice Blast Fungus M. grisea	Wheat Head Scab

Education

Ph.D. 1994. Kansas State University

Research Interests

Fungi have enormous impact on human welfare by destroying valuable crops and producing toxins that are harmful to humans and livestock. My interest lies in using genetic and genomics approaches to identify genes essential for fungal development and pathogenesis. My lab works with the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea and the wheat scab fungus Fusarium graminearum. Rice blast is one of the most severe diseases on rice and has become a model to study fungal-plant interactions. Current efforts are focused on the signal transduction pathways regulating infection-related morphogenesis and infectious growth. I am also participating in the International Rice Blast Genome Initiative that aims to systematically study fungal pathogenesis in M. grisea.

The wheat scab fungus is a less studied but important pathogen that has caused devastating epidemics recently in the US. Besides yield loss, F. graminearum also produced a variety of mycotoxins, including vomitoxin. Currently, we are developing ESTs and other genetic resources that are useful for identifying fungal pathogenicity factors. I am particularly interested in characterizing genetic mechanisms regulating fungal responses to compounds produced by wheat anthers that stimulate F. graminearum growth and enhance its virulence.

Assistantships and Positions

Please contact Jin-Rong Xu (jinrong@purdue.edu) directly for information on assistantships and openings in my program. Follow these links for general information on graduate programs or additional employment announcements.

Selected Publications

Zhao, X., Mehrabi, R., and Xu, J. -R. 2007. MAP kinase pathways and fungal pathogenesis. Eukaryotic Cell. 10: 1701-1714. (18184) Download pdf file 

Cuomo, C., Güldener, U., Xu, J. -R, Trail, F., Turgeon, B. G., Di Pietro, A., Walton, J. D., Ma, L., Baker, S. E., Rep, M., Adam, G., Antoniw, J., Baldwin, T., Calvo, S., Chang, Y., DeCaprio, D., Gale, L. R., Gnerre, S., Goswami, R. S., Hammond-Kosack, K., Harris, L. J., Hilburn, K., Kennell, J. C., Kroken, S., Magnuson, J. K., Mannhaupt, G., Mauceli, E., Mewes, H., Mitterbauer, R., Muehlbauer, G., Münsterkötter, M., Nelson, D., O’Donnell, K., Ouellet, T., Qi, W., Quesneville, H., Roncero, M. S. G., Seong, K., Tetko, I. V., Urban, M., Waalwijk, C., Ward, T. J., Yao, J., Birren, B. W., and Kistler, H. C. 2007. The genome sequence of Fusarium graminearum reveals localized diversity and pathogen specialization.  Science. 317: 1402-1405. Download pdf file

Li, L., Ding, S., Orbach, M., Sharon, A., and Xu, J. -R. 2007. A novel nuclear protein MIR1 is highly up-regulated during infectious hyphal growth in the rice blast fungus. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. 20: 448-458. Download pdf file

Ramamoorthy, V., Zhao, X., Snyder, A. K., Xu, J. -R., and Shah, D. M. 2007. Two Mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling cascades regulate sensitivity to antifungal plant defensins in Fusarium graminearum. Cellular Microbiology. 9: 1491–1506. Download pdf file

Zhao, X., and Xu, J. -R. 2007. A highly-conserved MAPK-docking site in Mst7 is essential for Pmk1 activation in Magnaporthe grisea. Molecular Microbiology. 63: 881–894. Download pdf file
 
Bluhm, B. H., Zhao, X., Flaherty, J., Xu, J. -R., and Dunkle, L. D. 2007. RAS2 regulates growth and pathogenesis in Fusarium graminearum. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. 20: 627-636. (18031) Download pdf file

Xu, J. -R., Zhao, X., and Dean, R. A. 2007. From genes to genomes; a new paradigm for studying fungal pathogenesis in Magnaporthe oryzae. Advances in Genetics (Fungal Genomics) 57: 175-218.

Park, G., Xue, C., Zhao, X., Kim, Y., Orbach, M., and Xu, J. -R. 2006. Multiple upstream signals converge on an adaptor protein Mst50 to activate the PMK1 pathway in Magnaporthe grisea. The Plant Cell. 18: 2822-2835. Download pdf file

Xu, J. -R., Peng, Y., Dickman, M. B., and Sharon, A. 2006.The dawn of fungal pathogen genomics. Annual Reviews of Phytopathology 44: 337-366. Download pdf file

Goswami, R. S., Xu, J. -R., Trail, F., Hilburn, K., and Kistler, H. C. 2006. Genomic analysis of host-pathogen interaction between Fusarium graminearum and wheat during early stages of disease development. Microbiology 6: 1877-1890.  Download pdf file  

Güldener, U., Seong, K., Boddu, J., Cho, S., Trail, F., Xu, J. -R., Adam, G., Mewes, H., Muehlbauer, G. J., and Kistler, H. C. 2006. Development of a Fusarium graminearum Affymetrix GeneChip for profiling fungal gene expression in vitro and in planta. Fungal Genetics and Biology 43: 316-325. Download pdf file  

Seong, K., Li, L., Hou, Z., Kistler, H. C., and Xu, J. -R. 2006. Cryptic promoter activity of the HMR1 coding region in the wheat scab fungus Fusarium graminearum. Fungal Genetics and Biology 43: 34-41. Download pdf file 

Seong, K., Hou, Z., Kistler, H. C., and Xu, J. -R. 2005. Random Insertional Mutagenesis Identifies Genes Associated with Virulence in the Wheat Scab Fungus Fusarium graminearum. Phytopathology 95 (7): 744-750.  (17664) Download pdf file  

Dean, R., Talbot, N., Ebbole, D., Farman, M., Mitchell, T., Orbach, M., Thon, M., Kulkarni, R., Xu, J. -R., Pan, H., Read, N., Lee, Y., Carbone, I., Brown, D., Soanes, D., Djonovic, S., Kolomiets, E., Rehmeyer, C., Li, W., Harding, M, Kim, S., Lebrun, M., Bohnert, H., Butler, J., Calvo, S., Ma, L., Nicol, R., Purcell, S., Nusbaum, C., Galagan, J., and Birren, B. 2005. Analysis of the genome sequence of the plant pathogenic fungus Magnaporthe grisea, the causal agent of rice blast disease. Nature 434: 980-986. Download pdf file 

Zhao, X., Kim, Y., Park, G., and Xu, J. -R. 2005. A MAP kinase cascade regulating infection-related morphogenesis in Magnaporthe grisea. The Plant Cell 17 (4): 1317-1329. Download pdf file

Zhao, X., Xue, C., Kim, Y., and Xu, J. -R. 2004. A Ligation-PCR approach for generating gene replacement constructs in Magnaporthe grisea. Fungal Genetics Newsletter 51: 17-18. Download pdf file

Bruno, K., F. Tenjo, Li, L., Hamer, J., and Xu, J. -R. 2004. Expression and localization of PMK1 during different plant infection stages. Eukaryotic Cell. 3: 1525-1532. Download pdf file

Park, G., Bruno, K., Talbot, N., Staiger, C., and Xu, J. -R. 2004. Independent genetic mechanisms mediate turgor generation and penetration peg formation during plant infection in the rice blast fungus. Molecular Microbiology. 53: 1695-1707. Download pdf file

Li, L., Xue, C. Y., Bruno, K., Nishimura, M., and Xu, J. -R. 2004. Two PAK kinase genes MST20 and CHM1 have distinct functions in Magnaporthe grisea. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. 17: 547-556. Download pdf file

Xue, C., Li, L., Seong, K, and Xu, J. -R. 2004. The Magnaporthe grisea - rice interaction: A model system for studying fungal-plant interactions. Pages 138-165, In Plant-Pathogen Interactions. (Ed. N. J. Talbot). Blackwell Scientific Publishers, UK.

Nishimura, M., Park, G., and Xu, J. -R. 2003. The G-beta subunit MGB1 is involved in regulating multiple steps of infection-related morphogenesis in Magnaporthe grisea. Molecular Microbiology. 50: 231-243. Download pdf file

Trail, F., Xu, J. -R., San Miguel, P., Halgren, R. G., and Kistler, H. C. 2003. Analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags from Gibberella zeae (anamorph Fusarium graminearum). Fungal Genetics and Biology. 38:187-197. Download pdf file

Park, G., Xue, C., Zheng, L., Lam, S., and Xu, J. -R. 2002. MST12 regulates infectious growth but not appressorium formation in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. 15:183-192. Download pdf file

Zhang, Y., Lamm, R., Pillonel, C., Lam, S., and Xu, J. -R. 2002. Osmoregulation and fungicide resistance: the Neurospora crassa OS-2 gene encodes a HOG1 MAP kinase homologue. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Vol. 68:532-538. Download pdf file

Xu, J. -R., and Xue, C. 2002. Time for a blast: genomics of Magnaporthe grisea. Molecular Plant Pathology. 3:173-176.

Xue, C., Park, G., Choi, W., Zheng, L., Dean, R. A., and Xu, J. -R. 2002. Two novel fungal virulence genes specifically expressed in appressoria of the rice blast fungus. The Plant Cell. 14:2107-2119. Download pdf file

Hou, Z., Xue, C., Katan, T., Peng, Y., Kistler, H. C., and Xu, J. -R. 2002. A MAP kinase gene (MGV1) for hyphal growth and plant infection in Fusarium graminearum. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 15:1119-1127. Download pdf file

Xu, J. -R. 2001. MAP kinases in fungal pathogens. Fungal Genetics and Biology. 31:137-152. Download pdf file

Zheng, L., Campbell, M., Murray, J., Lam, S. and J. -R. Xu. 2000. The BMP1 MAP kinase is essential for fungal pathogenesis in the gray mold fungus Botrytis cinerea. MPMI 13:724-732. Download pdf file

Dixon, K., Xu, J. -R. and N. J. Talbot. 1999. Independent signaling pathways regulate cellular turgor during hyperosmotic stress and appressorium-mediated plant infection by Magnaporthe grisea. Plant Cell 11: 2045-2058. Download pdf file

Xu, J. -R., Staiger, C., and J. E. Hamer. 1998. Inactivation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase Mps1 from the rice blast fungus prevents penetration of host cells but allows activation of plant defense responses. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. (PNAS) 95: 12713-12718. Download pdf file

Hamer, J. E., Xu, J. -R., Urban, M., Adachii, K., Lau, G., Tenjo, F., and Bhargava, T. 1998. Signal transduction and gene expression during early stages of fungal phytopathogenesis in the rice blast fungus. In Molecular Genetics of Host-Specific Toxins in Plant Disease, pp 225-244 (ed. K. Kohmoto and O. C. Yoder), Kluwer Academic Publisher, Netherlands.

Xu, J. -R., Urban, M., and J. E. Hamer. 1997. cAMP dependent protein kinase is essential for forming functional appressoria in Magnaporthe grisea. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. 10: 187-194.

Xu, J. -R. and J. E. Hamer. 1996. MAP Kinase and cAMP signaling regulate infection structure formation and pathogenic growth in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea. Genes & Development. 10: 2696-2706.

Web Links of Interest

For students interested in graduate programs and research opportunities in the area of genetics at Purdue University, visit the PULSe Interdisciplinary Graduate Program web site for more details.