Welcome to the POTNIS LAB Molecular Ecology of Plant-Pathogen Interactions

We are a research group in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology. The overall goal of our research program is to understand the factors that influence host susceptibility. Some of the research questions that we are interested in include: how diverse are plant-associated microbes and specifically pathogens? What factors influence this diversity and the pathogen variation? How does diversity influence overall plant health? How do community level interactions in rhizosphere / phyllosphere influence overall fate of the pathogen?  What mechanisms diverse pathogenic bacteria use to specialize on a common host? How do some acquire infectivity on a new host? To answer these questions, we are using model systems involving endemic pathogens, foliar pathogens, such as Xanthomonas sp. and Pseudomonas sp. pathogenic on tomato and/pepper and soil-borne pathogens, such as parasitic nematodes, and other fungal pathogens, on cotton, soybean and tomato.