Episode Five: Islands, herbariums, ancient DNA and the evolutionary history of a plant pathogen3/16/2019 The impacts of plant pathogens have long plagued agriculture history. With the use of modern genomics, it has become possible to study the genetics of pathogen emergence, evolution and spread. In this episode of the MEME Stream, Merve Öztoprak interviewed past MEME Clara Groot about her work on the plant pathogen Xanthomonas citri. This pathogen is well known for causing citrus bacterial canker which produces lesions on citric plants and has caused a massive reduction in citrus crops worldwide. By using herbarium samples Clara was able to analyze ancient plant DNA sequences from infected herbarium citric plants. This led her to conduct phylogenetic analyses to model its evolution and movement across the world. Clara also tells us about her wonderful time on the island of Réunion where she conducted her MEME project. Watch this video by Cambridge University on ancient DNA in herbarium plants. Read about how recent study on ancient DNA in corn has recently lead to findings about the origins of its domestication.
Follow Clara on twitter and read her wonderful new blog ' The Gene Time Machine'.
Her project was conducted with Professor Adrien Rieux at CIRAD in Réunion Read about Clara's other mini MEME thesis project here! Subscribe and listen to MEME Stream on soundcloud! Follow us on twitter! This episode is brought to you by:
Photo of Clara and her herbarium samples (left). Photo Clara took during her time in Réunion (middle). Example of citrus bacterial canker on a fruit (right) by APHIS photographer R. Anson Eaglin
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About the MEME StreamA podcast following MEME students past and present on their adaptive walks of life as they embark on a career in evolutionary biology. The MEME is a unique masters program that enables upcoming evolutionary biologists from all over the globe to study and research in Europe. These podcasts will travel all over Europe and the world, leaping, as Richard Dawkins says, from brain to brain, MEME to MEME, telling tales of our scientific ventures and research projects. ArchivesCategories |