![[Department of Plant Biology and Pathology]](http://njaes.rutgers.edu/_common/images/subheads/plantbiopath.gif "[Department of Plant Biology and Pathology]"){kind=small}
Contact Information
Mailing Address
Rutgers University
Department of Plant Biology & Pathology
Foran Hall/ Cook Campus
59 Dudley Rd.
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
white@rci.rutgers.edu
Campus Location
Office: Room 263 Foran Hall, 732-932-9711 ext. 357
Lab: Room 375 Foran Hall, 732-932-9375 ext. 348
Research Interests
Fungal endophytes of plants may play important roles in adapting hosts to their environments and defending them from biotic and abiotic stresses. In my lab we are exploring diversity of endophytes and the various impacts that they have on host plants. We are working to develop use of the clavicipitalean endophytes as a model system for understanding the evolution and dynamics of defensive mutualisms. In this respect we are interested in how endophytes in this family have evolved and how they have spread to various continents. Further, we are interested in how evolution has progressed in the Clavicipitaceae; and how the clavicipitalean-plant defensive mutualism itself evolved. The host-symbiont interface in the biotrophic Clavicipitaceae is another area of interest. In particular, we are interested in understanding how the clavicipitalean biotrophs induce plant hosts to release nutrients. Unlike most biotrophs, members of the Clavicipitaceae do not possess haustoria or other specialized structures for nutrient absorption; and they do not penetrate or otherwise degrade host cells. Thus the mechanism by which nutrients are extracted from hosts is a mystery. We are increasingly also interested in understanding how the abiotic environment impacts the parasitism-mutualism continuum. Some recent research in the lab has demonstrated that abiotic factors like light intensity may alter where a particular association falls in the parasitism-mutualism continuum. It is entirely possible that many abiotic factors influence the effect that endophytes have on their hosts. This phenomenon could important in determining the distributions of plant hosts.
We have recently begun to examine fungus-bacteria associations in members of the Agavaceae and other desert plants. The symbiotic bacteria (gram negative rods) appear to enter hyphae of fungi that colonize desert plants. We are currently evaluating the hypothesis that endophytic fungi and bacteria are part of a symbiosis that enables desert succulents to thrive in their low moisture and nutrient environment.
Publications
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Rutgers Affiliations
Other Affiliations
Dr. James F. White, Jr., joined the department in 1995 and has served as department chair since July 2002.