Telomere Hypervariability in the Fungus, Magnaporthe Oryzae - A Model Plant Pathogen

This is an REU request: The students to be trained under this program will perform independent research studying mechanisms of telomere hypervariability in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Telomere instability is determined, at least in part, by the activity of two transposons. In order to open the way for functional studies of the tranposons, one of the students will conduct experiments to try and transform an active transposon copy into a na ve isolate. They will construct the necessary vectors, transform Magnaporthe, screen the transformants to test for expression of the transgene and, finally, test for new insertion events. The second student will characterize new transposon insertions, as well as develop specific probes for monitoring the instability of individual telomeres. This will be accomplished by using inverse PCR to isolate sequences flanking rearranged telomeres, followed by cloning and sequencing of the rescued flanks.