Mission:
To identify the environmental conditions and genetic mechanisms controlling the expression of genes associated with plant-microbe interactions in general, and virulence-related genes in particular. The primary focus is the development of Pseudomonas syringae pv. Tomato CD3000 as a model system for the detailed investigation of plant-pathogen interactions. The long-term goal is to produce a mechanistic model of genome organization and transcriptional regulation that associates sigma factors with their cognate promoters, promoters with downstream transcriptional units, and transcriptional units with genes. Following this chain of inferences enables us to identify key regulatory events connecting environmental stimuli to genes, pathways, physiology and pathogen virulence.