Supervisor: prof. Ph.D. Sylwia Okoń
Principal Investigator: Tomasz Ociepa, PhD.
Discipline: Agriculture and Horticulture

Project title

“Influence analysis and identification of non-coding RNA (miRNA and lncRNA) sequences in transcriptomes of oat (Avena sativa L.) plants induced by Blumeria and Puccinia fungal infection.”

The project is funded by the National Science Center from the program “SONATA 19”

Project Objective:

The scientific objective of the project is to identify non-coding RNA molecules, with particular emphasis on miRNAs and lncRNAs in the transcriptomes of oat (Avena sativa L.) plants, during stress caused by infection by Puccinia and Blumeria fungi. Research in the project will be conducted at the transcriptome level using state-of-the-art molecular biology techniques, i.e. next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies based on short (Illumina) and long (Oxford Nanopore) reads, qPCR or dPCR. The research planned in the project will be the first of its kind on the structures of non-coding RNA in oats. The project will also include comparative analysis (differential expression) at the mRNA level between varieties with defined genes for resistance to oat powdery mildew and those without such genes. This research will form the basis of the dissertation and involves the identification of key, hitherto undescribed changes at the transcriptome level associated with biotic stress resistance. Structural and functional analysis will allow more accurate characterization of plant-pathogen interactions, which will measurably translate into resistance breeding of new varieties of this species.