Plants employ a number of mechanisms to defend themselves against diseases, including preformed defenses and defenses induced by both non-specific and specific recognition events.  We are interested in the natural (standing) genetic variation in maize that controls the strength and effectiveness of these defenses.  I will discuss a number of genes and mechanisms we have identified that control variation in a range of different types of disease resistance and defense response.  In particular, I will discuss connections between resistance to different diseases, connections between variation in ostensibly different types of defense response and will focus on the control of the defense response conferred by the specific maize disease resistance protein Rp1-D.

Bio. Dr. Peter Balint-Kurti did his PhD at the John Innes and has since worked at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda Maryland, The Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University in Ithaca NY, DNA Plant Technology Inc. in Oakland California, and The Pig Improvement Company - also in Oakland CA. He has been with the USDA-ARS in Raleigh NC since 2003.