The genomic revolution has made an enormous contribution to disease management strategies in plant pathology; it increases our understanding of the molecular mechanism of pathogenesis and resistance, population genetics and development of rapid and novel detection methods. Next-generation sequencing further enhanced our knowledge for developing genomic based strategies for improvement and management of disease resistance. The NGS-based comparative bacterial genomics provide insight on many important bacterial genomic regions responsible for pathogenicity; they also provide better resolution for understanding population biology of distinct pathogens from different geographical regions. Our goal is to gain knowledge about bacterial genomes of different strains from same species and/or genus (Clavibacter michiganensis, Xanthomonas, Dickeya etc.) to understand the mechanism of host-bacterial interactions and population biology.
Current Projects
1. Genome constituent and metabolic pathways of virulent EPS producing and non-producing wild type Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis
2. Comparative genomics of Dickeya sp.
3. Genomes and analyses of all nine Clavibacter michiganensis subsp.