Martha C. Hawes

Biography

The goal of my research is to improve crop protection, especially in arid environments like the desert Southwest, by exploiting natural disease and drought resistance mechanisms employed by plant roots. My program at the University of Arizona has focused on basic research to describe how crop plants alter the properties of the root-soil environment and thereby modulate microbial community structure in the rhizosphere. The specific goal has been to define the function of root 'border' cells, a population of specialized cells programmed to separate from root tips into the soil where they can stimulate growth and gene expression in beneficial bacteria and fungi, and inhibit growth of pathogens. Of particular interest is the role of border cells in a highly effective form of resistance to root tip infection by soilborne fungal, bacterial and nematode pathogens and to cellular injury by toxins such as aluminum. We now have established that border cells function to protect the root meristem by operating in a manner analogous to mammalian white blood cells: Upon deployment to the soil, border cells actively secrete a complex of polysaccharides, antimicrobial proteins, and extracellular DNA along with soluble metabolites which together function to localize and control microbial growth and development (Hawes et al. 2012, Plant Soil 355:1-16). The primary focus of current research efforts is to exploit this discovery to facilitate new avenues for improved crop production 

Research Interest

soil environment a