M.A. Jacques (INRA) visits Bari research team to strengthen research activities on Xylella fastidiosa in Italy and France
Dr. Marie-Agnès Jacques, Director of Research of the EmerSys (Emergence, Systematics and Ecology of plant pathogenic bacteria) team at INRA, has been a guest at CNR-IPSP/UNIBA laboratories in Bari from June 20 to 24, 2016.
The French researcher has discussed with the Italian colleagues the current updates and the future directions for research tasks to be carried out within the POnTE Project WP2 “Biology and pathogenesis” and WP3 “Genotyping and genetic structure of pathogen populations”.
The main focus of the visit was to start a coordinated isolation campaign in the epidemic area of the Salento peninsula, which will implement the ongoing activities aiming at studying and characterizing the genomics and genetics of the bacterial population spreading in Apulia and its evolution. This initiative also involves the research team from CSIC and has established a useful collaboration with the University of California Berkeley.
Actively engaged, with the INRA team, in the research effort to counteract the spread of Xylella fastidiosa in France, Dr. Jacques took the chance to visit the outbreak area located in Salento territory, and observe the current development of the disease.
In the course of her stay, Dr. Jacques gave a lecture, entitled “Host-pathogen interactions: new insights into the genomics of Xylella fastidiosa“, at the Faculty of Agriculture of Università degli Studi Aldo Moro in Bari.
