At the Turin headquarter, research is carried out in various thematic areas.
In particular:
- Identification, characterization and diagnosis of new plant virus disease and support to monitoring of quarantine pathogens;
- Ecological role of viruses in their interaction with bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, insects and plants;
- Use of viruses for biocontrol with specific focus on phage therapy, mycovirus and persistent insect viruses;
- Identification of resistance to plant viruses in horticultural crops;
- Evolutionary aspects of plant viruses in their interaction with resistant plant hosts;
- Genomic characterization and phenotyping of phytoplasmas;
- Gene expression and functional genomic of phytoplasmas;
- Molecular basis of plant and insect phytoplasma diseases and plant recovery;
- Activity of resistance elicitors against phytoplasma diseases;
- Nutritional behavior of phytoplasma vector insects in relation to the transmission mechanisms;
- Physiological and molecular responses of the vector to infection;
- Gene silencing in vector insects;
- Microbiome (bacteria and viruses) of phytoplasma vector insects for the development of potential biocontrol agents;
- Functional analysis of genes and miRNAs in grapevine and model plants (Arabidopsis, tobacco) by genetic transformation;
- Genetic improvement in grapevine by somatic embryogenesis, cisgenesis, genome editing and in hazelnut by traditional breeding;
- Study of multiple interactions between pathogens (viruses and fungi) and water stress in grapevine and hazelnut using physiological and molecular approaches;
- Molecular markers SNPs for genetic traceability of propagation material and grape traceability in musts and wines;
- Diagnosis through microscopy techniques of viral diseases in horticultural and ornamental plants;
- Study through microscopy techniques of host-pathogen interactions;
- Study through microscopy techniques of plant, insect, fungal, bacterial viruses and of phytoplasmas;
- Study of the microbiome of insect vectoring viruses and phytoplasmas aiming at developing new biocontrol agents in agriculture.
- Dissection of plant responses by cellular and molecular biology (including -omics technologies), and investigation of the role of root-associated microorganisms in the plant responses to environmental stresses
- Study of the differences among species and genotypes in the selection of soil microorganisms and identification of the involved mechanisms
- Characterization of fungi associated with plants through genomic and transcriptomic approaches
European Mycoplasma Research Network (eMyNet)
Grapevine genetic improvement platform – IMPROVIT