The Kunkel Lab

Welcome to the Kunkel Lab!

The Kunkel Lab is interested in the signaling and regulatory events that govern interactions between bacterial plant pathogens and their hosts. Our group is studying the bacterial plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae and two of its host plants, Arabidopsis thaliana and tomato, systems in which both pathogen and host are amenable to genetic and molecular analysis. We are interested in the virulence strategies used P. syringae to colonize and cause disease in plants.  We are currently focusing on two main areas:  

1. The identification and characterization of P. syringae genes that are important at intermediate and later stages of infection and
2. The roles of the plant hormone auxin (indole acetic acid, IAA) during pathogenesis.

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