Robert Malinowski spoke about plant interactions with a soil pathogen

Robert Malinowski from the Institute of Plant Genetics of the Polish Academy of Sciences focused on the interaction between the soil microorganism Plasmodiophora brassicae and plants in a lecture he delivered on Friday at CATRIN.

Plasmodiophora brassicae induces significant developmental and physiological changes in the host plant. A number of research projects focus on identifying the genetic basis of plant tolerance and resistance to clubroot, but there remains a vast unexplored area regarding the biological aspects that influence this interaction.

“By applying basic plant biology expertise, we can unravel the complex relationship between this intriguing organism and the plants it affects. However, to achieve that, a comprehensive understanding of the interaction model is essential. This presentation aims to provide fundamental information to elucidate the complexity of this model, which may be useful in designing and interpreting research related to clubroot disease, “stated Malinowski.

As stated by Nuria De Diego, the head of the Plant-Environment Interactions research group at CATRIN, the collaboration with the Polish researcher has been going on for at least eight years. “He is one of the co-authors of the article in Science we published, which focuses on plant cell biology, particularly the processes governing plant growth and their responses to biotic and abiotic stress. In addition to that, we have also co-authored two other articles in The Plant Journal. We are currently preparing several new experiments building on the study published in Science, which will be carried out using our phenotyping platform,” said De Diego.