Search for new Stolbur’ effectors and their ‘in planta’ interactions 

Supervisor: Prof.ssa Marta Martini

Phytoplasmas represent a group of pathogenic prokaryotes of rather recent discovery (Doi et al., 1967, Ann. Phytopath. Soc. Japan, 33: 259), associated with severe yield losses in a wide range of economically important crops. As the other member of their class, they're obligate parasites with a strong tissue-specific correlation, as they survive only in the sieve elements of their host plants and in the body of their insect vectors. Phytoplasmas produce in their host symptoms visibly related to a profound disturbance of the hormonal balance and interference with the phloem mass flow. Since they are limited to the sieve elements, the plant metabolic alterations are mediated by proteins, named effectors. Unraveling the function of effector proteins is a fundamental step for understanding their relationships with the host plant and a prerequisite for the management of phytoplasma-associated diseases enclosing the prevention of severe epidemics with relevant economic impact.

My project focus on the molecular phytoplasma-host interactions between an economically relevant model plant and several strains of “stolbur” phytoplasma (‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’, 16SrXII-A). The “stolbur” strains will be investigated by sequencing and mining the potential effector genes.

Biography and Contacts

Gaia Carminati was born in Brescia (BS), Italy, on 14/05/1994. She graduated in Agricultural Sciences in October 2016 at the University of Pisa, and in Agricultural Sciences and Technologies in February 2019 at the University of Bologna, both with honors. The master thesis was on “Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum and Candidatus Phytoplasma seed transmission”. In November 2019 she started the doctoral course at the Ph.D. school “Agriculture Science and Biotechnology” at the University of Udine.

Institutional e-mail: carminati.gaia@spes.uniud.it