Montpellier Scientific Community



Plant resistance to pathogens (RPB)

Director: Michel NICOLE
Research area
Preservation of cultivated plants to biotic stresses is an important factor for the development of sustainable agriculture. For tropical countries, it is a major objective
  • to reduce the use of pesticides for ecological, economical and human health priorities,
  • to modify cultural practices due to global climate changes
  • to prevent emergence of new diseases
  • to save phytogenetic resources from the degradation of natural ecosystems
Improving durability of plant resistance results from a wide range of procedures, including agronomical, biological, chemical or genetic controls, used in integrated pest management. Assessment of resistance durability occurs at three levels: the gene, the genotype and the population. To optimize sustainability, it is of importance to increase our knowledge (i) in diversity of available resistance genes (R), and (ii) in defense mechanisms underlying plant-parasite interactions, including those involved in plant resistance breakdown. The project is aiming at elaborating tools and methods that will allowed the transfer of R genes in cultivated plants.
Research highlights
The genetic control of plant diseases is based upon improvement or creation of cultivated varieties by introducing R genes in cultivated lines from wild species with the main goal to reduce the use of pesticides. This strategy results in a better knowledge in biodiversity available in genotypes, in the determinism of resistances, in defense mechanisms and in the capacity of pathogens to overcome R gene in fields. Within this continuum «diversity-mechanisms- durabilityofplant resistance», the unit aimed at reaching five major objectives:
  • To identify and to characterize resistance sources
  • To unravel plant defense mechanisms
  • To understand resistance breakdown
  • To develop strategies for resistance management
  • To evaluate and improve plant resistance durability
Staff profile
Research Org. Researchers Professors

Research Eng.

Techn. & Admin Staff PhD
UM2, IRD, Cirad
26
1

5
5
9
Research teams
Team 1 «Genetic diversity and improvement of plant resistance »
Axe 1: Structure an evolution of genetic diversity
Axe 2: Genomic organization of coffee R genes
Axe 3: Genetic and functional analysis of coffee R genes to pathogens
Axe 4: Genomic and functional modifications related to allopolyploïdy
Axe 5: Valorization of genetics resources and varietal innovation

Team 2 «Effectors and targets»
Axe 1: Effectors of Xanthomonas oryzae and interaction with rice
Axe 2: Effectors of Meloidogyne ssp. and rice resistance to nematode
Axe 3: Silencing suppressors of RYMV

Team 3 «Emergence and adaptation»
Axe 1: Emergence and adaptation of the RYMV in Africa
Axe 2: Co-emergence of two rice viruses with a propagative transmission
Axe 3: Coconut yellowing
Platforms and other tools
  • Platform for biology on the IRD center (Genetrop)
  • Access to different platforms at Montpellier through the IFR DAPHNE
Most important international partnerships
  • INERA (Burkina Faso)
  • Faculté d'Agronomie de Damas (Syrie)
  • Embrapa Cenargen (Brésil)
  • CENICAFE (Colombia)
  • CIFC IICT (Portugal)
  • CARBAP (Cameroon)
  • Kansas State University (USA)
  • WARDA (Benin)
  • FOFIFA (Madagascar)
  • PPRI (Vietnam)
  • OPRI (Ghana)
Facts and figures
Publications in international ranking journals
2010 : 23
2005 - 2009 : 140
Representative publications
1. Gonzalez C., Szurek B., Manceau C., Mathieu T., Séré Y. and Verdier V. 2007. Molecular and pathotypic characterization of new Xanthomonas oryzae strains from West Africa. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, 20 : 534-546.
2. Mahé L, Combes MC and Lashermes P. 2007. Comparison between a coffee single copy chromosomal region and Arabidopsis duplicated counterparts evidenced high level synteny between the coffee genome and the ancestral Arabidopsis genome. Plant Molecular Biology, 69: 699-711.
3. Pinel-Galzi A, Rakotomalala M, Sangu E, Sorho F, Kanyeka Z, Traoré O, Sérémé D, Poulicard N, Rabenantoandro Y, Séré Y, Konaté G, Ghesquière A, Hébrard E and Fargette D. 2007. Theme and variations in the evolutionary pathways to virulence of an RNA plant virus species. PloS Pathogens, 3: e180é.
4. Uzest M, Gargani D, Drucker M, Hébrard E, Gazo E, Candresse T, Fereres A and Blanc S. 2007. A protein key to plant virus transmission at the tip of the insect vector stylet. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 13: 17959-17964.
5. Weber E, Berger C, Bonas U. and Koebnik R. 2007. Refinement of the Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria hrpD and hrpE operon structure. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, 20: 559-67.
6. Castiblanco, L., Trujillo, C., Alfonso, N.C., Lopez, C., Szurek, B., Verdier, V., Restrepo, S. and Bernal, A. 2008. Molecular characterization of virulence and pathogenicity determinants in Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis. Phytopathology, 98:S32.
7. Chabrier P. and Quénéhervé P. 2008. Preventing nematodes from spreading : a case study with Radopholus similis (Cobb) Thorne on a banana field. Crop Protection, 27 : 1237-1243.
8. Fargette D, Pinel-Galzi A, Sérémé D, Lacombe S, Hébrard H, Traoré O. and Konaté G. 2008. Diversification of Rice yellow mottle virus and related viruses spans the history of agriculture from the Neolithic to the present. PloS Pathogens, 4: e1000125.
9. Mahé L, Combes MC, Várzea VMP, Guilhaumon C. and Lashermes P. 2008. Development of sequence characterized DNA markers linked to leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix) resistance in coffee (Coffea arabica L.). Molecular Breeding, 21: 105-113.
10. Quilis J. Peñas, G. Messeguer J., Brugidou C. and B. San Segundo 2008. The Arabidopsis AtNPR1 inversely modulates defense responses against fungal, bacterial or viral pathogens while conferring hypersensitivity to abiotic stresses in transgenic rice. Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions, 1:1215-1231.
11. Ventelon-Debout M., Tranchant-Dubreuil C., M. Nguyen, T-T Bangratz-Reyser M, Siré C., Delseny M. and Brugidou C. 2008. Rice yellow mottle virus stress responsive genes from susceptible and tolerant rice genotypes. BMC Plant Biology, 8: 1-12.
12. Champion A., Hébrard E., Parra B., Bournaud C., Marmey M., Tranchant C. and Nicole M. 2009. Analysis of molecular diversity of ERF transcription factors reveals that cotton ERF group IXa members are responsive to jasmonate and Xanthomonas. Molecular Plant Pathology, 10: 471-485.
13. Ramiro D., Escoute J., Petitot A.-S., Nicole M., Maluf M. and Fernandez D. 2009. Biphasic haustorial differentiation of the orange rust Hemileia vastatrix race II associated with differential defense responses in resistant coffee cultivar. Plant Pathology, 58: 944-955.
14. Anthony F, Diniz L, Combes MC and Lashermes P. 2010. Pleistocene radiation in Coffea subgenus Coffea L. (Rubiaceae) in Africa and Madagascar. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 285: 51-64.
15. Bellafiore S. and Briggs S. P. 2010. Nematode effectors and plant responses to infection. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 13: 442-448
Total annual budget (2010)
Total annual budget (2010)
910 000
External contracts
360 000
ANR 240 000
EU 100 000
Private sector
Others