Thesis Defense Seminar: Plant Pathology Ph.D. Degree Candidate Shay Szymanski
October 13, 2025 1:30PM - 2:30PM
PSSB 271 Conference Room 1:30-2:40 pm
Members of the Examining Committee and their Department:
- Dr. Timothy Miles - Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences
- Dr. Martin Chilvers- Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences
- Dr. Gregory Bonito – Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences
- Dr. Alejandro Rojas – Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences
ABSTRACT
Blueberry anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum species such as Colletotrichum fioriniae, is a post-harvest fruit rot that can cause substantial yield losses. The pathogen infects blossoms from sporulating bud tissue before entering a quiescent phase, only to show signs of infection when fruit are ripe, at which point numerous secondary infections of ripe fruit can occur. With a lack of any blueberry cultivars demonstrating complete resistance, management is primarily achieved with synthetic fungicides. This research aimed to characterize the ecological and molecular context in which blueberry anthracnose occurs, as well as explore a novel management option. Utilizing amplicon sequencing, the fungal microbial communities associated with blueberries were characterized. The influence of fungicide applications on fruit microbial communities was evaluated, as well as temporal patterns in diversity of various aerial portions of the blueberry plant. RNA-sequencing was leveraged to investigate molecular events occurring in C. fioriniae over the course of infection, elucidating a previously uncharacterized role of polyketides in the infection process of blueberry fruits. Spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS) was evaluated for its efficacy against C. fioriniae to investigate the viability of this biopesticide approach in the species, demonstrating the uptake and subsequent knockdown of gene expression in C. fioriniae when treated with double-stranded RNA.
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