Research group
Biography
I am broadly interested in plant-microbe interactions, genetics, and evolution. After completing my MSc in Food Security from the University of Warwick, I worked on my PhD at Virginia Tech (USA) wherein I studied how oomycete plant pathogens acquire nitrogen from their host using the model pathosystem of Arabidopsis and its downy mildew pathogen Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis. I am now using genomics to study a hyper-variable effector family in the potato cyst nematode Globodera pallida to further understand their function and how they contribute to nematode parasitism.
When not in lab, I like learning languages (of humans and computers) and photography. Please email me if you would like to know more about me and my research.
Publications
Sonawala, U.; Dinkeloo, K.; Danna, C. H.; McDowell, J. M.; Pilot, G. Review: Functional Linkages between Amino Acid Transporters and Plant Responses to Pathogens. Plant Science 2018, 277, 79–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2018.09.009.
Besnard, J.; Pratelli, R.; Zhao, C.; Sonawala, U.; Collakova, E.; Pilot, G.; Okumoto, S. UMAMIT14 Is an Amino Acid Exporter Involved in Phloem Unloading in Arabidopsis Roots. Journal of Experimental Botany 2016, 67 (22), 6385–6397. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erw412.
