Crop losses due to pest and diseases are a major threat to incomes rural families and to food security. The growing human population will require a significant increase in agricultural production from staple food to more marginal crops economically valuable though. Changes in the climactic and environmental conditions are leading to the appearance of new diseases whereas genetic changes within pathogen have resulted in the loss of effective sources of resistance and making the increasingly ineffective use of fungicides and pesticides a major concern for the sustainability of the environment of agricultural ecosystem. In this particular context, the identification of new resistance genes is mandatory. This will only be possible by a better understanding of the plant-pathogen interactions in order to produce either by conventional or molecular breeding new crop varieties that will carry a full or partial resistance without affecting other agronomically important traits. The interactions between a plant and its pathogen involve two-way communication by the ability of the plant to recognize and defense itself against a pathway and the capacity of the pathogen to circumvent the biology of the plant or to use it to its own benefit.
Among pathogens, plant viruses are extremely harmful to the production of vegetable, fruits, and cereal crops. Plant and viruses have developed various strategies (Figure 5). In the lab, we are studying the effects of Grape Leafroll-associated Virus 3 (GLRaV3) on transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene regulation in grapevine. We have identified a series of interested genes that undergo to a Differential Alternative Spcliing Events in teh presence of the Virus. Whether these events are caused or the consequences of the virus remains unclear. Among these Differentially Alternatively Spliced (DAS) genes, some corresponding proteins were found to be co-opted by viral proteins to facilitate its spread. We believe that the DAS mechanism is an additional strategy developed by the plant to reinforce its immune strategy against the virus by mitigating plant protein interactions with viral proteins, thereby limiting the spread of the virus. We are currently developing some CRISPR/Cas9 constructs aimed to edit splicing sites of a series of potentially co-opted proteins potent in order to prevent their splicing and evaluate the effects of the editing plants on their susceptibility to GLRaV3 .
Among pathogens, plant viruses are extremely harmful to the production of vegetable, fruits, and cereal crops. Plant and viruses have developed various strategies (Figure 5). In the lab, we are studying the effects of Grape Leafroll-associated Virus 3 (GLRaV3) on transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene regulation in grapevine. We have identified a series of interested genes that undergo to a Differential Alternative Spcliing Events in teh presence of the Virus. Whether these events are caused or the consequences of the virus remains unclear. Among these Differentially Alternatively Spliced (DAS) genes, some corresponding proteins were found to be co-opted by viral proteins to facilitate its spread. We believe that the DAS mechanism is an additional strategy developed by the plant to reinforce its immune strategy against the virus by mitigating plant protein interactions with viral proteins, thereby limiting the spread of the virus. We are currently developing some CRISPR/Cas9 constructs aimed to edit splicing sites of a series of potentially co-opted proteins potent in order to prevent their splicing and evaluate the effects of the editing plants on their susceptibility to GLRaV3 .