Ibrahim Ozturk

Citation

Thesis Title
Secondary metabolism of the forest pathogen Dothistroma septosporum

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Some fungi produce secondary metabolites that can be beneficial to people, such as antibiotics, or harmful, such as toxins. Other fungi produce toxins that are harmful to plants, such as the Dothistroma fungus that causes pine needle blight, one of the most harmful pine diseases throughout the world. Knowledge about the toxins and other secondary metabolites produced by this fungus, and how they are made, is essential for understanding the disease. Mr Ozturk investigated the complete set of genes responsible for secondary metabolite production in Dothistroma using bioinformatics tools and functional characterisation methods. He showed that Dothistroma may be capable of producing multiple novel secondary metabolites and that some of these secondary metabolites help the fungus to cause disease. His research is expected to lead to new methods of controlling this important forest disease.

Supervisors
Professor Rosie Bradshaw
Dr Rebecca McDougal
Dr Carla Eaton