IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIFIC MOLECULAR MARKERS FOR DETECTION AND GENOTYPING OF XANTHOMONAS ARBORICOLA PV. JUGLANDIS

STUDENT SEMINAR IN BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION

Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis (Xaj) is one of the most serious threats of walnut trees (Juglans regia L). This phytopathogen is the major responsible for nut and foliage diseases of walnut, leading to severe production losses in the main production regions, and raising serious concerns about its economic impact in the future.
In order to enhance the knowledge on Xaj biology, my ongoing PhD research is focused in understanding aspects related with epidemiological patterns, diversity and population structure of this phytopathogenic bacterium. In this seminar, I’m going to focus on the work that led to the selection and validation of several Xaj-specific genomic markers. The results disclose that these novel Xaj-specific markers may contribute to implement culture-independent methods of Xaj detection in infected plant material, and in addition may provide useful genotyping information important to distinguish different Xaj populations and infer their virulence.

Camila Fernandes holds a degree in Biology from Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias (2010) and a MSc in Biomedical Science from Universidade Nova de Lisboa (2013). She joined the Microbial Diversity and Evolution (MDE) group as a research fellow within the project DNA array for in planta detection and genotyping of quarantine phytopathogenic bacteria (PTDC/AGR-PRO/111857/2009) in 2013. Presently, Camila Fernandes is a first year student of the PhD Program in Biology at Universidade do Porto, granted by FCT. The PhD project entitled: “Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis – unveiling the biogeographic distribution of emergent and acutely virulent Xaj genotypes to infer epidemiological patterns and improve phytosanitary control” is under supervision of Fernando Tavares (CIBIO-InBIO) and co-supervision of Leonor Cruz (INIAV).

Image credits: Camila Fernandes and Pedro Albuquerque