Guang-Chen (Eric) Fang Postdoctoral Scientist , Fruit Pathology OFFICE: B06 Long Hall ADDRESS: Dept. of Entomology, Soils, & Plant Sciences, 120 Long Hall, Clemson, SC 29634-0315 TELEPHONE: 864-656-5752 FAX: 864-656-0274 E-MAIL: gfang@clemson.edu

Qualifications

Ph.D., Plant Pathology, 1996, Purdue University.

Research Interests

I am presently continuing with research on peachtree shortlife that Dr. Daniel Kluepfel and I began.

My previous research was in host-pathogen interactions involving the infection process of the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe grisea, on rice. One research area is identification of the genes involved in signal transduction pathways during development of appressoria of M. grisea. We previously demonstrated that cAMP induces appressorium formation and disruption of the cpkA gene, which encodes the catalytic domain of cAMP dependent protein kinase A, which results in the loss of ability to form appressoria. These results suggest the requirement of the signal transduction pathway involving protein kinase in the appressorium morphogenesis. We are now using the yeast two-hybrid system to identify the genes involved in the pathway. These genes will be further characterized. These studies should help us to dissect the signaling pathway and better understand the mechanisms underlying the development of the infection-associated morphogenesis.