The long-term goal is to improve legume crops for biotic and abiotic stresses. Currently we are leveraging the plant resources we have in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) to understand the resistance mechanisms exhibited by plants upon inoculation with a rust fungal pathogen called Uromyces appendiculatus.

Our current focus in the lab is the epigenetic analysis of common bean during the active fungal infection stage. We are trying to map DNA- protein interaction sites on the common bean and mung bean genomes through ChIP-sequencing and bioinformatics tools. Additionally we are also looking at epigenetic changes brought by modifications in methylation, histone acetylation, histone deacetylation and small RNAs.