Johannes Debler

Research Associate
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Biography

Johannes is a postdoctoral researcher focussing on fungal plant pathogens affecting major pulse crops, particularly lentil and chickpea. He specialises in molecular plant-microbe interactions, with an emphasis on identifying and characterising fungal effector genes that enable pathogens to evade or suppress plant immune responses. His work combines genomics, transcriptomics, and functional biology to better understand how these diseases emerge and how durable resistance can be developed in crops.

Related Resources & Publications

Fisher. M., Moslemi. A., Cupitt. C., Furuki. E., Grime. C. R., Tahghighi. H., Clark. B. L., Debler. J. W., Lawrence. J. A., Gibberd. M. R., Easton. J., & Kamphuis. L. (2026) "Alternaria and Stemphylium species found on safflower plants and seed in Western Australia" Plant Disease DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-07-25-1372-SR

Debler J.W., Lee R.C., Farfan-Caceres .LM., Singh K.B., Kamphuis L.G., & Henares B.M. (2026) "Comparative genome analysis identifies necrosis-inducing effectors in the lentil pathogen Ascochyta lentis in isolates with distinct virulence profiles" BMC Genomics DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-026-12790-z

Debler J.W., Lee R.C., Singh K.B., Kamphuis .LG., & Henares B.M. (2025) "Boscalid – a new selectable marker for Ascochyta lentis and Ascochyta rabiei" Fungal Biology DOI: 10.1016/j.funbio.2025.101615

Henares, B. M., Blake, S. N., Farfan-Caceres, L., Tahghighi, H., Debler, J. W., Russ, M. H., Farquharson, E. A., Rose, J. A., Khani, M., Davidson, J., Kamphuis, L. G., & Lee, R. C. (2023). "Virulence profiles and genome-wide association study for Ascochyta lentis isolates collected from Australian lentil-growing regions." Phytopathology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-10-22-0397-R

Blake S.N., Lee R.C., Russ M.H., Farquharson E.A., Rose J.A., Herdina, Goonetilleke S.N., Farfan-Caceres L., Debler J.W., Syme R.A. and Davidson J.A. (2022) "Phenotypic and Genotypic Diversity of Ascochyta fabae Populations in Southern Australia" Frontiers in Plant Science. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.918211

Henares, B.M., Debler, J.W., Farfan-Caceres, L.M., Grime, C.R., Syme, R.A., Blake, S.N., Herdina., Davidson, J.A., Oliver, R.P., Singh, K.B., Kamphuis, L.G., Lee, R.C. (2022) "The novel avirulence effector AlAvr1 from Ascochyta lentis mediates host cultivar specificity of ascochyta blight in lentil" Molecular Plant Pathology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mpp.13203

Jones, D.A.B., Rozano, L., Debler, J.W. Mancera, R.L., Moolhuijzen, P.M., Hane, J.K. (2021) "An automated and combinative method for the predictive ranking of candidate effector proteins of fungal plant pathogens" Scientific Reports DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-99363-0

Debler, J., Henares, B., Lee, R. (2021). "Agroinfiltration for transient gene expression and characterisation of fungal pathogen effectors in cool-season grain legume hosts." Plant Cell Reports. DOI: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00299-021-02671-y

Lee, R.C., Farfan-Caceres, L., Debler, J.W., Williams, A.H., Syme, R.A., Henares, B.M. (2021) "Reference genome assembly for Australian Ascochyta lentis isolate A14." G3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkab006

Debler, J.W., Henares, B.M. (2020). "Targeted disruption of Scytalone Dehydratase gene using Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation leads to altered melanin production in Ascochyta lentis." Journal of Fungi. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jof6040314

Lee, R.C., Farfan-Caceres, L.M., Debler, J.W., Syme, R.A. (2020) "Characterization of Growth Morphology and Pathology, and Draft Genome Sequencing of Botrytis fabae, the Causal Organism of Chocolate Spot of Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.)." Frontiers in Microbiology DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00217

Shah R.M., Williams A.H., Hane J, Lawrence J., Farfan-Caceres L.M., Debler J., Oliver R.P., Lee R. (2020) "Reference Genome Assembly for Australian Ascochyta rabiei Isolate ArME14" Genetics GSA G3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.120.401265

Henares, B.M., Debler, J.W., Farfan-Caceres, L.M., Grime, C.R., Lee, R.C. (2019) "Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation and expression of GFP in Ascochyta lentis to characterize ascochyta blight disease progression in lentil." PLOS One DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223419

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