Cypress Canker Disease: a model pathosystem for understanding host-pathogen interaction
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Cypress Canker Disease (CCD) is caused by seven species of Seiridium affecting plants belonging to the Cupressaceae family. It serves as a remarkable example of a pandemic in forest pathology. The disease cycle begins when a spore successfully germinates in the tissues of a cypress plant, usually following an injury. At this point, cortical cankers start to develop, leading to dieback and the formation of acervuli from the cortical tissue. In order to better characterize the evolutionary relationship and different plant responses, I designed two experiments. The first experiment involves a phylogenomic analysis of three Seiridium species (S. cardinale, S. cupressi, S. unicorne). The isolates selected for this genomic analysis have diverse geographical origins, enabling an evolutionary comparison to understand the genetic differences that have allowed Seiridium to adapt to new environments. The second experiment consists of a dual RNA-seq analysis aimed at characterizing the diverse responses of cypress plants to the inoculation of Seiridium cardinale. The plants chosen for this experiment include clones of Cupressus sempervirens previously identified on the basis of disease resistance and susceptibility. The expected results of this research open up various scenarios that anticipate further experimentation. These additional experiments include genome annotation and the possibility of conducting further Dual RNA-Seq studies incorporating climatic variables. This will allow the integration of CCD research into a context of climate change.