Team : MEA

PhD student :  NIANE Amadou Bamba

Thesis supervisors :  PUJADE-RENAUD Valérie , David LOPEZ (Co-encadrant)

Dates : July 2023 - June 2026

Description

Hevea is a tropical tree cultivated for the production of natural rubber, which accounts for 47% of the global elastomer market. However, it is susceptible to fungal pathogens, including Corynespora cassiicola and the species of the genus Colletotrichum. These cause repeated defoliation, which weakens the tree and significantly reduces rubber production. In order to prevent these two pathogens, the MaFHé project aims to develop diagnostic and selection methods to better control the risk of leaf diseases in rubber trees. However, the Corynespora and Colletotrichum pathotypes are only partially characterised and specific markers for detecting/quantifying them in diseased leaves are not always available. It is therefore necessary to identify these pathotypes and their virulence effectors (or markers) in order to assess the susceptibility of clones from breeding programmes. This is the focus of this thesis, entitled ‘Characterization of the effectors of the main pathotypes of Corynespora and Colletotrichum, pathogens of rubber trees’.