Grapevine Pathogen Systems Lab

the GPS Lab main aim is to unveil disease regulatory networks in grapevine but also to understand plant-pathogen and plant-microorganisms communication, ultimately focused on improve crop resistance and sustainable production. To achieve this goal the GPS Lab seeks to define models for the key mechanisms that are early activated and de-activated, both on the host and pathogen sides, that might be a target for biotechnology-based approaches. GPS Lab presents six main research areas: 1) identifying, characterizing and engineering plant proteases to improve crop protection; 2) evaluating lipid enrolment on grapevine-pathogen interactions and its impact on hormonal signaling; 3) characterizing host pathogen communication through cell compartments proteomics and metabolomics; 4) identifying the impact of epigenetic modulation (DNA methylation and histone deacetylation) on plant-pathogen cross-talk; 5) understanding the impact of tailoring soil and plant microbiome towards a higher production sustainability and testing different microbial consortia to improve abiotic and biotic stress resistance in crops; 6) defining new elicitor molecules to prime plants resistance.