The seminar for Thursday, January 25th – and the first of the Spring 2024 semester – is “Deciphering host-pathogen and fungal-fungal interactions within the latent fruit rot of winterberry pathosystem: from the field to the biochemistry” given by Dr. Francesca Hand. Dr. Hand is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at The Ohio State University.

“Ilex verticillata (common winterberry) is a deciduous species of holly bearing colorful, persistent fruit, commonly used in landscape design and as woody cuts for winter seasonal decoration. Diaporthe ilicicola is a recently described fungal species that establishes latent infections in winterberry flowers at bloom, leading to necrosis when the fruit is fully mature. The formation of D. ilicicola pycnidia within the fruit epicarp was observed to create micro-wounds in the fruit cuticle facilitating co-infection by opportunistic necrotrophic fungi and leading to fast-progressing rot. D. ilicicola pycnidia formation was induced by increased intensity of white light in vitro, and by exposure to fruit ethanolic extracts ex vivo. Additionally, drops in field temperature were significantly correlated with disease incidence, suggesting that D. ilicicola infection may weaken the fruit cuticle and increase susceptibility to cold damage. Commercially available cultivars were screened for susceptibility to the disease and a quantitatively resistant phenotype was identified. Metabolomic analysis showed that the fruit of less susceptible cultivars display distinctly different profiles compared to more susceptible cultivars, with 89 unique metabolite features putatively associated with resistance. Future work will determine whether D. ilicicola asymptomatic infection can alter fruit cuticle integrity and identify compounds with bioactivity toward D. ilicicola or I. verticillata fruit.”

Please join us at 3:45pm on the 3rd floor of DeGrace hall for snacks and coffee!

This seminar will also be available via Zoom.