It is increasingly clear that microbes are essential components for almost all life forms on earth. Thus, understanding how microbes interact with other organisms within microbial community or inside the associated hosts are crucial for improvement of human and plant health. The major research interests in my laboratory are to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying how bacterial pathogens deploy protein secretion systems for survival at its ecological niche and successful infection inside the plant host. My laboratory investigates the mechanistic and biological insights of the two major protein secretion nanomachines, type IV and type VI secretion systems (T4SS and T6SS), in Agrobacterium tumefaciens, the causal agent of crown gall disease and powerful gene transfer tool. By investigating the mechanistic and biological functions of T4SS and T6SS, we hope to understand the underlying mechanisms how A. tumefaciens survive and overcomes several lines of host defense response for successful infection. The knowledge may provide new insights to improve Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation and translational applications in biomedicine and/or agriculture.
More Information About Principal Investigator
Erh-Min Lai
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IPMB, Academia Sinica
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News!
Apr 1 2025 Congratulations to Xuan Lai (賴軒) for being elected as the new President of the IPMB Young Investigator Association (YIA).
Mar 29, 2025 Congratulations to Hagos Mohammedseid Juhar (哈格斯), a PhD candidate in the TIGP-MBAS program, co-advised by Professors Erh-Min Lai and Chih-Horng Kuo, for winning the Gold Award (1st place) in the African Scientists International Conference held from March 28–29, 2025, in Taipei, Taiwan. The 3rd Multidisciplinary International Research Conference (MIREC) was organized by the World African Researchers, Engineers, Entrepreneurs & Scientists Alliance (WARESA) in collaboration with the NTU-African Students' Association.
Mar 21, 2025 Congratulations to Xuan Lai (賴軒) and all authors for the work “Distinct strategies of diguanylate cyclase domain proteins on inhibition of virulence and interbacterial competition by agrobacteria” accepted for publications in prestigious ASM journal mBio.
Jan 13, 2025: Congratulations to Yu Wu (吳宇), a TIGP-MBAS PhD Candidate co-advised by Chih-Horng Kuo and Erh-Min Lai, for receiving the 2025 TIGP Research Performance Fellowship.
Oct 30, 2024 Congratulations to Teng-Kuei Huang and Mao-Sen Liu for their work being awarded the outstanding presentation paper (特優論文) by Taiwan Society of Plant Biologists (台灣植物學會).
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New Publications!
Article
Distinct strategies of diguanylate cyclase domain proteins on inhibition of virulence and interbacterial competition by agrobacteria
Lai X, Yu M, Cheng CP, Lai EM*.
Article
Rhizobium rhizogenes A4-derived strains mediate hyper-efficient transient gene expression in Nicotiana benthamiana and other solanaceous plants
Lopez-Agudlo JC, Goh FJ, Tchabashvili S, Huang YS, Huang CY, Lee KT, Wang YC, Chang HX, Kuo CH, Lai EM, Wu CH*.
Announcement
Complete genome sequence of Sphingomonas sp. strain R1, a bacterium isolated from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
Yen HC, Wang SC, Chen WM, Lai EM*, Kuo CH*.