Teaching code

4S00700

Credits

6

Coordinatore

Elodie Genevieve Germaine Vandelle

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

AGR/12 - PLANT PATHOLOGY

Moodle Seminars

The teaching is organized as follows:

Learning objectives

With the course of Phytopathological Biotechnologies, the student will acquire the following competences: KNOWLEDGE 1. Describe the main phytopathogenic microorganisms 2. Define the concepts of infection, disease, resistance, pathogenicity, virulence and related arguments 3. Deep knowledge regarding the plant-pathogen interaction: 3a. Molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity and virulence 3b. Physiopathological alterations associated with the infectious process, focusing on signals and mechanisms of plant resistance against phytopathogens. 4. Define the concept of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) with the description of the main methods employed in plant protection. ABILITY 5. Recognize the main symptoms of some plant diseases presented during the course and their associated microorganisms. 6. Define and apply biotechnological approaches for the improvement of plant resistance against phytopathogens.

Prerequisites and basic notions

- basic notions of microbiology, plant physiology, plant biology

Program

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UL: teoria
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The course will deal with the following themes:

1. General concepts on plant disease and introduction about the main protection methods

2. Description of the main pathogen agents with symptom analysis and description, and description of infection processes:
- phytopathogenic fungi and pseudo-fungi: detailed cycle of Plasmopara viticola, Erysiphe necator, Botrytis cinerea, Puccinia graminis.
- phytopathogenic bacteria: detailed cycle of Erwinia amylovora, Pseudomonas syringae e Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
- phytoplasms: basic knowledge and virulence factors.

3. Molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity and virulence of phytopathogenic microorganisms:
- pathogenicity factors: description, function, regulation
- virulence factors: description, function, regulation
- function of Hrp and Avr genes.

4. Plant-pathogen interaction
-molecular bases of host specificity: non-host resistance and race-specific resistance
-plant-pathogen recognition: the elicitor-receptor model, the guard model, the decoy model

5. Plant resistance against diseases
-structure, function and evolution of resistance genes in plants
-defense signal transduction in plant resistance
-mechanisms of resistance expression and regulation
-the defense responses: morpho-structural mechanisms, antimicrobial compound synthesis, the hypersensitive cell death (HR)
- post-transcriptional gene silencing as resistance mechanism against viral pathogens
- the systemic resistances: signals and molecular mechanisms governing the systemic acquired resistance (SAR) and the induced systemic resistance (ISR).

6. Biotechnological applications for resistant plant production: transgenic expression of genes from other plants, other organisms or pathogenic agents (pathogen-derived resistance).

Practical courses
Advanced diagnostic tests applied to phytopathology
Production of a hypersensitive reaction
Evaluation of bacterial virulence with the use of genetically modified microorganisms
Methods for the evaluation and characterization of plant resistance


Reference texts
-Plant Pathology, Agrios
-Fondamenti di Patologia Vegetale, edizione 2017, Pàtron Editore
-Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants, Buchanan
-Elementi di virologia vegetale, Piccin
-Plant Pathology and Plant Diseases, CABI
-Patologia vegetale molecolare, Piccin

Additional teaching material
-Slides of the course (provided later at the end of the lecture)
-Scientific articles (references cited during the lectures)

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UL: laboratorio
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Practical courses:

Advanced diagnostic tests applied to phytopathology
Production of a hypersensitive reaction
Evaluation of bacterial virulence with the use of genetically modified microorganisms
Methods for the evaluation and characterization of plant resistance

Bibliography

Didactic methods

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under definition
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Learning assessment procedures

------------------------ MM: theory -----------------------
The exam consists of a test articulated with:
1. Presentation of a scientific article in front of the other students of the course (15-20min). The article is chosen by students from a list proposed by the teacher or independently (further approved by the teacher). The topic of the articles deals with the topics of molecular plant pathology addressed during the course.
2. Written exam with four open questions (2 hours). The purpose of the test is to ascertain the achievement of the training objectives described above.
------------------------ MM: laboratory -----------------------
single exam (see theory)

Evaluation criteria

Evaluation criteria for the presentation of the scientific article: general understanding of the article, in-depth analysis of the topic for a correct description of the context of the work presented (related bibliographic research), properties of the language used, ability to discuss critically.
Evaluation criteria for the written test: degree of knowledge in general of the subject developed in the course of study, language properties relating to the subject in question, reasoning skills

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The final mark expressed out of thirty will be attributed considering:
- 1/3 of the mark (10/30) for the presentation of the article
- 2/3 of the mark for the written test (20/30).
Each student will receive a single final grade including the outcome of the two tests performed. The exam will be the same for attending and non-attending students.

Exam language

italiano