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QnAs with Sheng Yang He
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Sheng Yang He has spent a distinguished career studying bacterial plant pathogens and the molecular mechanisms by which they lead to disease. A professor of plant biology at Michigan State University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2015. He has used bacterial pathogens, such as Pseudomonas syringae and the virulence factors they secrete, to probe plant–pathogen interactions in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. These studies have greatly enhanced our understanding of bacterial pathogenesis, plant immune responses, and the basis of plant disease susceptibility. In his Inaugural Article (1), He provides an overview of recent advances in our molecular understanding of pathogens and insects associated with plant phloem.
Sheng Yang He. Image courtesy of Sheng Yang He.
PNAS:How did you become interested in the interactions between phloem and insects or pathogens?
He:After graduate school, I started my own research project using a fairly simple model system, Arabidopsis and Pseudomonas syringae, and worked with this model for the next 20 years or so. A few years ago, I became interested in studying phloem insects and pathogens. These are some of the most important insects and pathogens in the plant world …
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