{"id":14,"date":"2016-04-05T21:59:11","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T21:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projects.nib.si\/evade\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2022-03-04T11:39:32","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T10:39:32","slug":"summary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/projects.nib.si\/evade\/summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Project overview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bacterial plant pathogens<\/strong> represent a major challenge<\/strong> for agriculture<\/strong>, greatly reducing the yield of agricultural crops used to sustain the nutritional needs of the increasing world population. It is known that all major crops<\/strong> are damaged<\/strong> by<\/strong> at least one major bacterial disease<\/strong>. Control of the vast majority of bacterial plant diseases is still based on classic cultural practices, as there is no effective chemical control<\/strong> available. Implementation of biocontrol<\/strong> measures is hindered<\/strong> by lack of sufficient knowledge<\/strong>. Among the most important plant pathogens<\/strong> are bacteria of genus Dickeya<\/em>. Bacteria from the genus Dickeya<\/em><\/strong>, family Enterobacteriaceae are very aggressive, hemibiotrophic, pectinolytic pathogens<\/strong> that have both a wide geographic distribution and host range<\/strong>. Diverse isolates of the genus Dickeya<\/em> cause soft-rot<\/strong> in a number of host plants, including economically important crops and ornamental plants. However, until very recently<\/strong>, reports of soft-rot disease caused by the genus Dickeya<\/em> have been limited to herbaceous plants<\/strong>. Dickeya fangzhongdai<\/em><\/strong> is the first<\/strong> Dickeya<\/em> species reported to infect trees<\/strong>, causing bleeding canker necrosis.<\/p>\n

Currently, there is no efficient chemical or biocontrol<\/strong> management<\/strong> strategies implemented to control either of the diseases that Dickeya<\/em> spp. is causing. However, bacteriophage biocontrol strategies<\/strong> were proposed as a promising option for managing soft-rot of potatoes caused by other Dickeya spp. The use of\u00a0bacteriophages<\/strong> as control and therapy agents has a long history and several bacteriophages<\/strong> have demonstrated repeated, successful applications in plant disease management<\/strong>. However, challenges<\/strong> remain including resistance development<\/strong> in bacteria and complex dynamics<\/strong> among bacteriophages, bacteria and their environment<\/strong>, which remain largely unexplored<\/strong>. Therefore, an approach integrating different types of analysis is needed to study plant pathogenic bacteria \u2013 bacteriophages system<\/strong> as the outcome of their interaction occurs and is dependent on<\/strong> highly changing environmental factors<\/strong>. For example, Dickeya<\/em> spp. shift their lifestyle from epiphytic to pathogenic in an intricate response <\/strong>to changed environmental factors including temperature<\/strong>, oxygen<\/strong> availability<\/strong> and humidity<\/strong>. Moderate temperature (approximately 30 \u00b0C) expedite bacteria to shift to the soft rot disease expression. Additionally, shifts in the environmental pH<\/strong> have a great regulatory role for the Dickeya<\/em> spp. gene expression<\/strong> during the disease development, as the pH is changing from acidic to alkaline during plant infection. Therefore, Dickeya<\/em> spp. are not only able to withstand<\/strong> a range of different stressors<\/strong>, including elevated temperatures and relatively broad pH interval, but exploit them for efficient adaptation.<\/p>\n

In our previous studies<\/strong>, we have established comprehensively characterised D. fangzhongdai<\/em> system<\/strong> with well-defined genetic and phenotypic<\/strong> traits. We have also isolated and described first bacteriophage<\/strong> from family Podoviridae<\/strong> active against Dickeya<\/em> spp., bacteriophage BF25\/12<\/strong>. The primary host of the bacteriophage is the novel species D. fangzhongdai<\/em>. We showed suitability of the bacteriophage BF25\/12 as a model bacteriophage<\/strong> for researching bacteria-bacteriophage interactions and its influence on the biocontrol management strategies by comprehensive characterisation<\/strong> of the bacteriophage, including genetic and phenotypic<\/strong> trades, environmental stability<\/strong> and development of molec<\/strong>ular methods for tracking<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The specific objectives of this research project are:<\/p>\n

\u2022 to assess if environmental factors<\/strong>, namely temperature and pH<\/strong>, enable pectinolytic bacteria to avoid bacteriophage infection<\/strong> by influencing bacteria-bacteriophage interaction;
\n\u2022 to determine correlation<\/strong> between enzymatic activity<\/strong> of the bacteriophage tail spike protein<\/strong> and adsorption to bacterial cells<\/strong> at different environmental pressures (temperature and pH).<\/p>\n

The proposed research will generate new knowledge<\/strong> of a complex bacteria-bacteriophage-environment interaction system<\/strong>. It will improve our understanding of the role<\/strong> of environmental factors on bacteria-bacteriophage systems and its responses<\/strong>. Therefore, results of the study will be of a great practical importance for fine-tuning bacteriophage biocontrol applications<\/strong>, especially in the field of agriculture and plant health<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bacterial plant pathogens represent a major challenge for agriculture, greatly reducing the yield of agricultural crops used to sustain the nutritional needs of the increasing world population. It is known that all major crops are damaged by at least one major bacterial disease. Control of the vast majority of bacterial plant diseases is still based […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-fullwidth.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P7OqMV-e","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.nib.si\/evade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.nib.si\/evade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.nib.si\/evade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.nib.si\/evade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.nib.si\/evade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/projects.nib.si\/evade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":376,"href":"https:\/\/projects.nib.si\/evade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions\/376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.nib.si\/evade\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}