Home Department: undeclared
Mentor: Mary Beth Mudgett (Biology)

“The Role of NAD Kinase 1 in Tomato-Pathogen Interactions"

The Mudgett laboratory studies plant-pathogen interactions to understand how bacterial pathogens suppress plant immune systems to cause disease in crops. The lab has discovered that the bacteria Xanthomonas alters immune signaling in tomatoes by manipulating NAD metabolism. This is an important finding, given that maintenance of normal dinucleotide ratios in cells is critical for the regulation of many enzymes and signaling pathways. Gavin will study how the pathogen protein XopX modulates NAD metabolism. XopX physically interacts with NADK1, a kinase that converts NAD to NADPH. Gavin will learn biochemical and mass spectrometry techniques to understand how XopX alters NADK1 function during infection.