Overview

In the 21st century agriculture faces the serious challenge of providing food supply in sufficient quantity and quality to the exploding human population despite  shrinking crop lands and  increasingly extreme weather conditions. In the future, agriculture can only meet this task if productivity is increased substantially. Of the biotic factors that threaten food security the most serious ones are viral diseases. Plants have evolved several defensive mechanisms to fight off viral infections. Dr. Fátyol’s laboratory uses the tools of modern plant molecular biology, including the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system, to study the above processes. Disentangling the details of these defence measures is important not only for the better appreciation of the molecular events taking place in plant cells, but from the standpoint of finding novel ways to improve stress tolerance in plants, thereby increasing crop yield and quality.
Research keywords:
genome editing, plant virus, rna silencing, argonaute proteins, solanaceae

Publications

STUDY OF THE ROLE OF AGO2 IN ANTIVIRAL DEFENSES IN SOLANACEOUS PLANTS

The project aims to better understand how the main antiviral Argonaute protein, AGO2, works. We recently created ago2 mutant Nicotiana benthamiana, a widely used solanaceous model plant. With this model system, we intend to investigate the participation of AGO2 in various antiviral immune responses and try to identify novel components of these processes.

https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkv1371

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01050-6    

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2018.08.016  

UNDERSTANDING THE MOLECULAR DETAILS OF VIRUS INDUCED NECROTIC PROCESSES

Activation of innate immunity often leads to local and systemic necrotic responses that limit the spread of the invading virus and can also provide resistance to distal, uninfected parts of the body. The aim of this project is to identify candidate genes involved in virus induced necrosis. The genes identified could be potential new sources of viral resistance.

https://doi.org/10.1128/jvi.00017-20  

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xplc.2020.100099 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2021.07.003 

UNRAVELING THE BACKGROUND OF THE TOMATO DISEASE CAUSED BY PEPINO MOSAIC VIRUS (PEPMV)

Tomato production is highly affected by viral diseases that are responsible for enormous production losses. Pepino Mosaic Virus (PepMV) is a rapidly spreading virus, which has established itself as one of the most important diseases threatening greenhouse tomato production over recent years. In this project we aim to examine the role of tomato AGO2 in PepMV infection by inactivating its gene using genome editing.

https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erad327 

IDENTIFICATION OF HOST FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PROGRESSION OF TOMATO YELLOW LEAF CURL VIRUS (TYLCV) INFECTION.

Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV) is one of the most devastating tomato pathogenic viruses. Currently, the virus threatens tomato growing mainly in the Mediterranean region, however, due to climate change, there is a real risk that its vector, Bemisia tabaci will appear in Hungary in the near future. Our aim is to identify host factors that influence the progression of TYLCV infection.

Projects

Dr. Fátyol Károly
Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology
Campus address: H-2100 Gödöllő, Szent-Györgyi Albert str. 4.
fatyol.karoly@uni-mate.hu
fatyol.karoly@uni-mate.hu
MTMT: 10001393
Scopus: 20234110300