Biotechnological approaches to control the crop pathogen Fusarium and development of nanotechnology-based diagnostic methods for detection of plant diseases.

Seminario de experto en el tema de Biotecnología de PlantasThe plant fungal pathogen Fusarium is the causal agent of ‘Fusarium wilt’ and results in large losses on a wide range of crops including vegetables, flowers, trees and field crops. Control methods for Fusarium wilt are very limited. Crop rotations are ineffective because F. oxysporum has such a large host range and is able to survive in the soil for long periods of time and genetic resistance is very scarce or on-existent in many crops. I will describe the development of two biotechnological approaches to produce fusarium resistant plants, one of which has produced 100% resistance. I will also present the development of nanotechnology-based diagnostic methods that can be coupled with DNA electrode recognition technology to detect and identify over 100,000 different pathogens in a single diagnostic test.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech