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
Total permanent staff Total Scientists Scientists with "HDR" [1] Post-doc fellows PhD
26
16
8
3
8
[1]French university degree for confirmed thesis supervisor
Research teams
Team 1 «Genetic diversity and improvement of plant resistance »
  • Axe 1: Genetic biodiversity, adaptation and resistance of Coffea arabica and Musa spp to pathogens (rust, CBD, nematodes)
  • Axe 2: Genomic organization of coffee R genes
  • Axe 3: Genetic and functional analysis of coffee R genes to Meloidogyne exigua and Hemileia vastatrix
  • Axe 4: Introgression and genome expression
Team 2 «Defense mechanisms of plants to pathogens»
  • Axe 1: Molecular physiology of coffee resistance (Coffea arabica) to parasites
  • Axe 2: Resistance mechanisms of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) to Xanthomonas campestris pathovar malvacearum
  • Axe 3: Rice resistance (Oryza spp.) to the nematodes Meloidogyne graminicola
Team 3 «Durability of Plant resistance»
  • Axe 1: Durability of cotton resistance to the bacterial blight
  • Axe 2: Durability of rice resistance to the rice yellow mottle virus
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)
Facts and figures
Publications in international ranking journals
2008: 36 publications ; 10 book chapters
2007: 13 publications ; 13 book chapters
2006: 18 publications ; 8 book chapters
2005: 20 publications ; 13 book chapters
Representative publications
Petitot A.-S., Lecouls A.C. and Fernandez D. 2008. Sub-genomic origin and regulation patterns of a duplicated WRKY gene in the allotetraploid species Coffea arabica. Tree Genetics and Genomes, 4: 379-390.

Gichuru EK, Agwanda CO, Combes MC, Mutitu EW, Ngugi ECK, Bertrand B. and Lashermes P. 2008. Identification of molecular markers linked to a gene conferring resistance to coffee berry disease (Colletotrichum kahawae) in Coffea arabica L. Plant Pathology, 57: 1117-1124.

Chabrier C. 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.

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(11), e180.

Voloudakis, A., Marmey, P., Jalloul, A., Delannoy, E., Martinez, C., and Nicole, M. 2006. Expression of superoxide dismutase genes during interactions of cotton with Xanthomonas campestris pv. malvacearum. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology, 68, 4-6, 119-127.
Total annual budget (2008)
Total annual budget (k€- excluding salaries)
250
External contracts (k€)
206