Project Title:
Biochemical Analysis of Terpenes in Rice Blast Fungus
Program Year:
2021
Major:
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Supervisor:
Sibongile Mafu
Over the summer I worked in Dr. Mafu’s lab where I studied certain genes from Magnaporthe oryzae and performed transformations to determine their catalytic promiscuity. The goal was to biochemically analyze the terpenes produced by the genes and consolidate data. Terpenes are secondary metabolites in fungi that could play a possible role in pathogenicity. We are interested in learning more about how the fungi causes rice blast disease and ways to combat it.
