Scientific Profile: Prof. Sophien Kamoun#
I am recognized as a pioneer and leader in the modern fields of genomics and effector biology of filamentous plant pathogens (oomycetes and fungi). I have published some of the first and most influential papers on these topics. Phytophthora and other oomycetes have long been considered untractable organisms by fungal genetic research standards. My contributions have been critical in helping the study of oomycetes and their effectors take center stage in plant-microbe interactions research. This is evidenced by significant exposure at international conferences; high profile articles; and the number of renowned scientists that joined the field.
I am a recognized leader in the field of plant pathogenomics having among other things recently co-organized the first conference on this topic (Shenzhen, China, January 2011). In 1999, I published the first cDNA sequencing project for a plant pathogen (Kamoun et al. 1999, Fungal Genet Biol 28:94) and was a key member of the Syngenta Phytophthora Genomics Consortium (1998-2002), perhaps the first group of this kind to coordinate efforts on genomics of plant pathogens.
I have taken a leading role in community efforts to obtain genome sequences of oomycetes, particularly P. infestans. This work was published in Nature in 2009 and highlighted on the journal cover (Haas, Kamoun et al. 461:393). I continue to be actively involved in pathogenomics projects having recently reported on the impact of host jumps on genome evolution in Phytophthora (Raffaele et al. 2010, Science 330:1540).
I pioneered the use of functional genomics strategies that link plant pathogen sequences to phenotypes and I am credited with discovering several effector families from pathogenic oomycetes. In the early 2000s, my group, then at The Ohio State, designed and implemented algorithms to identify effector genes from sequence data. I developed this approach with my first Ph.D. student Trudy Torto (Torto et al. 2003, Genome Res 13:1675; reviewed in Kamoun 2006, Annu Rev Phytopathol 44:41). My group implemented this approach to discover several effector families, including Crinklers, protease inhibitors, and RXLR effectors.
With Miaoying Tian, another Ph.D. student, we published the first report of a protease inhibitor in any plant-associated microbe (Tian et al. 2004, J Biol Chem 279:26370). We followed this paper with several studies that confirmed that these effectors target plant proteases (Tian et al. 2005, Plant Physiol 138:1785; 2007, Plant Physiol 143:364; Song et al. 2009, PNAS 106:1654). Since the first publication, protease inhibitors have been reported in other plant pathogens suggesting a general counterdefense mechanism.
I was one of the scientists directly involved in the discovery of the RXLR host translocation motif of oomycete effectors (Rehmany et al. 2005, Plant Cell 17:1839). This was followed by the demonstration that the RXLR domain functions in the human parasite Plasmodium suggesting a similar mechanism of host translocation in plant and animal eukaryotic pathogens (Bhattacharjee et al. 2006, PLoS Pathog 2:e50).
With UK collaborators, we discovered AVR3a, the first P. infestans avirulence effector (Armstrong et al., 2005, PNAS 102:7766), using an association genetics strategy we detailed in an earlier report (Bos et al. 2003, New Phytol 159:63). With my student Jorunn Bos, we followed with several papers that established that AVR3a targets the host E3 ubiquitin ligase CMPG1 to suppress plant immunity (Bos et al. 2006, Plant J 48:165; 2009, MPMI 22:269; 2010, PNAS 107:9909). Our 2006 paper was the first report of a cell death suppressor from a filamentous plant pathogen and CMPG1 is the first target reported for an RXLR effector.
I contributed to the theoretical development of the field through a number of highly cited influential reviews. I was one of the first to popularize and extend the concept of effectors to filamentous pathogens (Kamoun 2006, Annu Rev Phytopathol 44:41; 2007, Curr Opin Plant Biol 10:358). With Renier van der Hoorn, I developed the decoy model of effector recognition by plant immune receptors (van der Hoorn and Kamoun, 2008, Plant Cell 20:2009). A review I co-authored was highlighted as a “Fast Breaking” paper by Thomson Reuters (Hogenhout et al., 2009 MPMI 22:115, my interview at http://tinyurl.com/yfdj97h). This article remains the most downloaded paper on the journal website two years after publication.
Over the years, my career has followed a coherent thread. I consistently followed the same themes building on robust discoveries while at the same time never hesitating to pursue new exciting questions and research avenues. I published in broad impact journals but I am particularly proud of the detailed papers I published in top specialist journals in diverse fields (molecular evolution, biochemistry, genomics, plant biology etc…). I have never felt reticent to pursue new challenges perhaps because of my broad training in the natural sciences and my ability to recruit and inspire young scientists with different backgrounds and expertise.
