Friday, April 15

Speaker: Anthony Tongen, Program in Applied Mathematics, University of Arizona

Title: Biomechanical Model for Appressorial Design in Magnaporthe grisea

Abstract:
The fungus Magnaporthe Grisea,commonly referred as the rice
blast fungus, is responsible for destroying from 10% and 30% of the
world's rice crop each year. The fungus attaches to the rice leaf and
forms a dome-shaped structure, the appressorium, in which enormous
pressures are generated that are used to force a penetration peg through
the rice cell wall and infect the plant. We develop a model of the
appressorial design in terms of a bioelastic shell that can explain the
shape of the appressorium, and its ability to maintain that shape under
the enormous increases in turgor pressure that occur during penetration.