Studying bacteria and plant disease resistance was not something Adam Bogdanove thought he would do when he moved to Japan to teach English.

Bogdanove, researcher in the Plant Sciences Institute, graduated from Yale in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. While in Japan, he took notice of Japan’s limited environmental resources.

“I decided I wanted to do research that would benefit the environment and have the ability to produce crops without a lot of chemical pesticides,” said Bogdanove, assistant professor of plant pathology.

He returned to the United States in fall 1991 to attend graduate school at Cornell University. While working at a lab he discovered the first pathogen molecule that is known to trigger plant defense responses .

After Bogdanove received his degree, he came to Iowa State and became the only faculty member at the Plant Sciences Institute who is researching how bacteria cause disease.

“The Plant Sciences Institute was really exciting for me,” he said. “There are resources, facilities and programs that are really being strengthened by the Plant Sciences Institute.”

Bogdanove, who works with tomatoes and soybeans, is hoping to start a program with rice, and said he saw potential for relieving dependence on chemicals that harm the environment.

“There is a possibility to find ways to manage disease in plants without using pesticides,” said Laura Darnielle, graduate lab manager.

Lab studies can result in the discovery of genes resistant to pathogens in plants, Bogdanove said. These genes can be cloned to find out how plants defend themselves naturally, he said.

Darnielle is working on a project to find out how bacterial protein gets delivered to plant cells when the plant is infected by bacteria, she said. Other research she is working on includes DNA sequencing projects of various pathogens.

So far, Bogdanove’s funding has come from the department itself. He said he has submitted an application for federal funding that will most likely be from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation.

Sara Richter, lab assistant in Plant Sciences, said Bogdanove is an excellent researcher and teacher.

“He will always take time to explain things very well,” said Richter, junior in genetics.

Bogdanove is optimistic about the future of his research.

“The basic biology is a lot of fun,” he said.

“Bacteria attacks . plant defends. There is also a potential of knowledge we generate for practical application.”