Fruit Functional Genomics & Biotechnology Lab

FFGB Lab is interested in studying fruit ripening and fruit defence. We have been gathering knowledge on the transcriptome, hormonome and metabolome associated with these processes. The study of transcription factors identified as crucial fruit ripening and defence regulators based on omics data is particularly relevant. Additionally, we focus on the general primary and secondary metabolisms and targeted studies on cell wall components, hormones, and volatiles associated with fruit quality and defence. We also explore physiological responses induced under drought and/ or infection with fungal pathogens and how these scenarios change the microbiome. We plan to implement epigenetic studies to integrate with these molecular, physiological, and biochemical data soon. Our main goal is crop improvement, and to this end, we use multi-omics analyses to select essential genes for functional analysis using gene editing.