TrImActiv: Tree Immune Activators

What we do?

Trees are emblematic spp for human societies and economies. Additionally, trees support fundamental ecosystem services. To contribute to their conservation, we aim to understand the molecular components (genes) and mechanisms that boost tree immunity.

We will employ an unconventional experimental approach based on the use of conserved PAMPs and DAMPs that have been shown to elicit immune responses in herbaceous plants.

Populus tremula x alba Castanea sativa

Our preliminary RNA-seq analysis in chestnut trees infected with Phytophtora cinnamomic...

indicates that gene families involved in stimuli perception, such as PRRs (A), and cell wall remodelling, such as chitinases and glucanases (B), play an essential role in the onset of oomycete infection. These data point to an important role of stimulus perception and downstream signalling activation in tree immunity, issues that we aim to study in TrImActiv.

*Funding  has been requested to the ERC program Consolidator Grant 2025

Images Research | Line 3