Research

Risk assessment, molecular tools and side effects of non chemical methods for control plant pathogens and parasite Research Unit (RAMT RU)

The objectives of the activities of this unit are to describe the fate of the BCAs in the agricultural ecosystems, to ascertain the lack of environmental and health risk in the use of BCAs and other natural metabolites and to furnish molecular tools for the other RU, in particular to integrate the knowledge of molecular biology, with classical biology. The purpose is to develop brand new molecular markers both for insects and for plant pathogens, in particular to obtain co-dominant highly informative PCR-based markers.
Of highest interest will be the establishment of a high throughput automated routine analysis of organisms in order to reduce human handling to a minimum, process hundreds of samples per time and to allow simultaneous diagnosis, quantification and/or tracking of several organisms.
Large scale application of soft control strategies using BCAs may raise questions such as unwanted environmental and food contamination.
This unit will furnish the know-how to evaluate long term ecological and economical impacts of BCAs.

RAMT RU priorities include:

• BCAs marker development;
  
  
• spread and colonisation monitoring (qualitative) presence/absence of BCA at non target sites;
  
  
• understanding plant-pathogen-BCA interactions in field and studying environmental effects on BCAs;
  
  
• chemical characterisation and identification at molecular level of modes of action (where relevant) of metabolites active against the pathogen;
  
  
• evaluation of the effects of BCAs on non-target organisms and beneficials;
  
  
• BCAs environmental safety, including identifying the potential to produce unwanted metabolites on non-target sites;
  
  
• evaluating the effects of BCAs on transformed products;
  
  
• risk evaluation of forced evolution of the pathogen toward avoiding BCA-effect;
  
  
• evaluation of the side effects on beneficial organisms of the IBRs and the metabolites active against insects and pathogens;
  
  
• risk evaluation of bioinsecticides and safety to relevant non-target arthropods other than bees.