Tora Fougner-Okland (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Prof. Dr. Hans-Henning Kunz (DBG's contact person at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), award winner Tora H. Fougner-Økland and Prof. Dr. Silke Robatzek (supervisor of the master thesis), f.l.t.r. Photo: Eliana Mor
Tora Hedvig Fougner-Økland's Master thesis was awarded with the Prize for the Best Plant Science Master Thesis, which was carried out at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in the year 2022
Title: Exploring antibacterial gene silencing approaches in Xylella fastidiosa and Xanthomonas campestris
For the first time, RNA-based treatments have been tested against the devastating agricultural pest Xylella fastidiosa
RNA-based treatments are a promising crop protection strategy against eukaryotic pests, but similar approaches against bacterial crop pests remain largely unexplored. The study tested approaches to achieve Antibacterial Gene Silencing (AGS) in two important bacterial plant pathogens, Xylella fastidiosa fastidiosa and Xanthomonas campestris pv. raphani. Therfore Fougner-Økland synthesized different RNAs and tested their effect by targeting bacterial growth and virulence. Fougner-Økland did not find evidence that RNA treatments reduced bacterial colonisation in Arabidopsis thaliana, but some results suggest that RNAs targeting a gene for chitin metabolism could change growth dynamics and phenotype in chitin-dependent growth conditions. This work opens possibilities for new measures against bacterial crop pathogens, which are notoriously difficult to control. Future efforts may focus on more sensitive detection methods for AGS events.
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Tora Hedvig Fougner-Økland conducted this work at the the LMU Chair of Genetics in the working group of Prof. Dr. Silke Robatzek.