donofrio-headshotBolstering plant basal immunity holds promise for controlling plant diseases, however its deployment first requires a better understanding of the genetic components contributed by both organisms, and how they interact. The interaction between the devastating rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae and its hosts such as rice is well-studied, but the fungal factors that modulate basal immunity- particularly reactive oxygen species (ROS)- and the host components they impact, are poorly understood. We propose to fill this knowledge deficit using our available fungal mutant strains coupled with identification of new fungal genes via forward genetic screens. We have begun forward genetic screens on a collection of previously designed M. oryzae mutants, as well as on a new library being developed in our labs which utilizes an endogenous sensor of ROS as the genetic background. Preliminary results from these screens, as well as confocal imaging from already known mutants, will be shared.