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Group Members

Professor Murray Grant


Job Title
Professor
Department
Life Sciences
Research Interests

Elizabeth Creak Chair in Food Security

My research interests centre around plant-microbe interactions with a predominate focus on host responses to pathogenic bacteria. We also study the mechanisms underpinning biocontrol and plant growth promotion conferred by beneficial fungi and have interest in applying our general expertise to emerging tree diseases.

We deploy interdisciplinary approaches such as real time imaging, physiology, reverse genetics, a range of "omics" techniques (including untargeted metabolomics) and network inference modelling to study the dynamics and molecular basis of three fundamental outcomes of plant-pathogen interactions; suppression of defence, gene-for-gene resistance and the early events involved in propagating systemic immunity.

Notable contributions to the field include the first map-based cloning of a dual recognition resistance gene, RPM1 ; the first evolutionary study of an R gene; the first real time measurement of in planta cytosolic calcium changes during a resistance response; the first functional characterisation of an evolutionarily conserved plant inhibitor of apoptosis; the first description on how pathogen effector proteins modulate defence networks. More recently we have studied phytohormone cross talk in moulding the outcome of plant defences responses. We are particularly interested in exploring; (i) the key role ABA plays in hijacking plant defence and (ii) an unexpected contribution of jasmonates and auxin in systemic immunity. We are currently using synthetic biology approaches to re-wire these pathways thus interfering with pathogen virulence strategies. A more recent discovery that the chloroplast is a key player in orchestrating effective innate immune responses and is targeted by pathogen effectors mechanistically links disease with yield loss.

A remarkable 40% of the proteome of the saprophytic fungus Trichoderma hamatum is unique compared to other Trichoderma spp. Using a combination of metabolomic and transcriptomic informed targeted mutagenesis, we are studying whether this additional genetic material encodes novel chemistries that contribute to T. hamatum's remarkable plant growth promotion and biocontrol activities.

Biography

PhD Biochemistry, Otago University, New Zealand. 1988
BSc (first class) Biochemistry, Otago University, New Zealand. 1983

Title Funder Award start Award end
BBSRC Bioinformatics and biological resources: 2021: A Phylogenomic Resource for the Plant Pathogen Community BBSRC 01 Jul 2022 30 Jun 2027
Anatomy and function of LTP-RNA interactomes in systemic and electrical signaling 2020 BBSRC/NSF BBSRC 01 Mar 2023 28 Feb 2027
International Partnering Award: Next generation genetically encoded sensors to reveal primary energy metabolism in plant stress responses. BBSRC 01 Apr 2022 31 Mar 2026
Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust, The 01 Apr 2021 31 Mar 2026
Shapeshifting: how is plant ER architecture manipulated by pathogen effectors? - BBSRC standard research grant BBSRC 01 Jun 2022 31 May 2025
Nucleoside counter-decoys; metabolic interference in plant defence BBSRC 02 Jan 2022 16 Jan 2025
China Partnering Award: Does chloroplast reactive oxygen underpin plant disease resistance? BBSRC 01 Jul 2019 30 Sep 2024
Daphne Jackson Trust (Said El-Hassan) Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Pathways of Induced Natural Biological Compounds during Plant-Pathogen-Beneficial Trichoderma hamatum Interaction BBSRC 08 Aug 2022 07 Aug 2024
Xanthomonas plant diseases: mitigating existing, emerging and future threats to UK agriculture BBSRC 01 Oct 2020 31 May 2024
Towards engineering disease resistance in Banana to Fusarium Wilt - avoiding the next apocalypse Royal Society 01 Dec 2017 30 Nov 2023
MTA with Fera Science Ltd -Xanthomonas plant diseases: mitigating existing, emerging and future threats to UK agriculture Fera Science Limited 01 Aug 2020 31 Jul 2023
Co-ordination Team for the Bacterial Diseases of Plants Initiative BBSRC 01 May 2020 30 Apr 2023
US Partnering Award: The role of the chloroplast in activation of systemic immunity BBSRC 01 Apr 2018 31 Mar 2022
Understanding the mechanism of chloroplast immunity BBSRC 01 Jan 2017 31 Oct 2021
CoA: Retaining the Ashes: The potential for ash populations to be restored following the dieback epidemic; linked to Ideate 56318 UK Research and Innovation 01 Jan 2021 30 Sep 2021
Ion mobility mass spectrometer for proteomics facility. ALERT19 BBSRC 01 Jul 2020 30 Jun 2021
Retaining the Ashes: The potential for ash populations to be restored following the dieback epidemic BBSRC 09 Aug 2018 07 Feb 2021
Developing analytical methods to determine the role of NAD and ADP-ribosylation in plant defence and disease (Daniel Pap) Undergraduate Vacation Bursary British Society for Plant Pathology 27 Jul 2020 26 Sep 2020
A role for 3 prime O beta ribofuranosyladenosine in altering plant immunity Royal Society 30 Nov 2018 25 Apr 2019
(Susan Breen) Vacation studentship for Nicole Hargreaves:Investigating the role of the Chloroplast in Plant Immunity British Society for Plant Pathology 02 Jul 2018 01 Sep 2018
16ALERT: Mid-Range Equipment Initiative: A high sensitivity triple quadruple mass spectrometer coupled to an ultra-high pressure liquid chromatograph system for quantitative analysis BBSRC 01 Jul 2017 30 Jun 2018
Towards protecting the UK landscape; a novel method to screen for resistance to ash dieback while mitigating herbivory tradeoffs BBSRC 01 Oct 2016 31 Mar 2018
Re-engineering plant defenses to nullify phytopathogen virulence strategies Leverhulme Trust 25 Apr 2016 14 Sep 2017
Vacation Studentship for Breagha Magill - The role of truncated R proteins in plant-pathogen interactions British Society for Plant Pathology 19 Jun 2017 18 Aug 2017
Enhancing human health and food security through disease resistant, biofortified bananas BBSRC 15 Sep 2016 31 Dec 2016

Contact Information


Prof. Murray Grant

Feel free to contact Murray about potential student projects and collaborations.

Email: M.Grant@warwick.ac.uk

Phone: 024 765 75136

Twitter: @Muzzaphytopath


Webpage Contacts

For more information on the running and details of the group web pages, please contact Jamie or Laura.

Email: Jamie.Pike@warwick.ac.uk

  Email: Laura.Civolani@warwick.ac.uk

Vacancies & Opportunities


Plant Molecular Biologist; Plant Immunity

A fixed term contract BBSRC funded Research Fellow position is available in the Grant laboratory, a well-funded group working on a range of challenges in the plant immune field, including; systemic signalling, metabolic immunity, inter-organellular communication and the molecular basis of immune suppression.

Application closing date, January 2nd 2024.

Click here to apply.


For PhD and postdoctoral opportunities, and interest in potential collaborations, please contact Murray. You will find his contact information above.