Space-temporal azole resistance of a major plant pathogen in Europe

In the context of my Ph.D. project, I am studying the genetic architecture of fungicide resistance at a European scale towards two widespread classes of fungicides against a major crop pathogen: Zymoseptoria tritici. Moreover, we want to investigate the evolutionary trajectories driving the genetic architecture of fungicide resistance and investigate signatures of environmental adaptation in the EU collection. The proposed project is divided into three steps. In the first step, I will explore the population structure of a European collection of isolates of Zymoseptoria tritici coming from 15 different years. The result will allow me to understand if there are distinct populations in Europe. Next, I will lead GWAS analysis to identify significant association loci. Integrating information of the loci associated with fungicide resistance to the temporal, geographical coordinates will enable me to build a comprehensive view of the evolution and spread of resistant haplotypes thought Europe, underlying the pathogen's recent evolution. Finally, I will validate fungicide resistance by knockout experiments or by gene replacement.