Ayesha Yousaf
"Functional characterization of resistance gene against Apple Scab"
Supervisor: Prof. Mickael Arnaud Melnoy
Apple (Malus domestica) is one of the most popular fruit and major useful food resource, belongs to the Rosaceae family. Apple scab is one of the most devastating disease, caused by Ventuira inaqualis which reduce fruit yield worldwide. Addressing food safety; resilient, stable and sustainable agricultural fruit crop production are the largest challenges identified globally.
Decoding of apple genome has defined the genetic basis of scab resistance. The identification of unique resistance genes and their functional alleles is a essential to develop apple cultivars with enhanced apple scab resistance. The aim of this project is to manage the apple scab by characterization of resistance genes and their functional alleles which is essential to develop durable apple scab resistance by using expeditious advancement in green biotechnological breeding techniques such as cisgenisis, trans grafting and genome editing (CRISPR/Cas9) which allow direct manipulation of target genetic sequences, leading to desired phenotype. Another purpose of this project is to check the activation sites of R/Avr genes and protein-protein interaction inside the cells by using transcriptomics and proteomic approaches which can lead to better understanding of plant-pathogen relationship.
Biography and contacts
Ayesha’s research interests centre on Plant Biotechnology, Molecular Plant Pathology and Functional Genomics. Her doctoral dissertation aims to manage the apple scab by using unique resistance genes and their functional alleles which are essential to developing durable apple scab resistance against Venturia Inaequalis.
She was born in 1991 in Sialkot Pakistan. She earned BSc (Hons.) and MSc (Hons.) in Agricultural Sciences and Plant Pathology from the University of Punjab, Pakistan, where she carried out her thesis work focused on the analysis of the antigenic protein pattern of Aspergillus Niger isolated from airy microflora &Aloe Vera and the resistance genes diversity in cultivars of Rosa Indica against powdery mildew and black spot respectively. Prior to the PhD project, she worked as a junior research assistant on maintaining genomic integrity of wheat and roses by cellular responses against biotic and abiotic effects in Central Molecular Lab, PU, Pakistan.
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