The "dark side" of GPGV disease: ultrastructural and molecular studies to improve the knowledge of virus-plant interactions.

Supervisor : Rita Musetti

Grapevine Pinot gris virus (GPGV), a member of Betaflexiviridae family, genus Trichovirus, has been reported in different grapevine cultivars both showing symptoms (such as stunting, chlorotic mottling and leaf deformation) and symptomless, for which the aetiology of the disease is still a matter of debate.
The aim of the PhD project is to give insight about this disease through ultrastructural investigations and molecular analysis of symptomatic and asymptomatic plant tissues. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) observations are going to be carried out to study: i) the localization of the virus particles, ii) the cytopathic effects on the grapevine leaf tissues and iii)any differences in ultrastructural alteration between symptomatic and symptomless samples. The detection of GPGV in grapevine tissues is going to be confirmed by RT-qPCR experiments. Moreover the simultaneous presence of other plant viruses and the potential synergisms with GPGV will be evaluated with Multiplex RT-PCR assays, using specific primers. The genome of different viral strains, detected in symptomatic or symptomless plants will be sequenced using Sanger sequencing method. Successively, the completely characterized genome of virulent and hypo-virulent strains will be used for in plant transformation experiments, to reproduce specific virus-plant interactions. The proposed work will give contributes to the knowledge about the epidemiology of GPG disease and allowing the development of efficient control practices.

Biography and contacts

Giulia Tarquini was born in 1989 in Livorno-Italy. In 2013 she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Biotechnology (final score 107/110) and in 2015 the master in Plants and Microbes Biotechnology (110/110 cum laude) at Pisa University (Italy). In 2015 she started the doctoral course at the PhD school “Agriculture Science and Biotechnology” at the University of Udine.

tarquini.giulia@spes.uniud.it

[Phone 0432558543]