DAVIDE GENTILE

PhD Graduate

PhD program:: XXXVII


supervisor: Giovanna Frugis
advisor: Giovanna Serino

Thesis title: Novel genetic tools to accelerate the breeding of new resilient crop varieties for sustainable agriculture: characterization of CRF transcription factors for crop genetic improvement

Biotic and abiotic stressors resulting from climate change induce stress responses in plants, negatively impacting their development and causing significant damage to agriculture. This has led to a growing need for the development of stress-resilient crops. While considerable knowledge exists about plant stress responses, the interplay between stress and development—referred to as stress-development crosstalk—remains poorly understood. This area of study holds significant potential for advancing crop improvement. Cytokinin Response Factors (CRFs), recognised for their roles in both stress responses and plant development, are promising candidates in this crosstalk as part of a side branch of the classical cytokinin (CK) two-component signalling pathway. These transcription factors have been well-characterised in species such as Arabidopsis and tomato, but have been largely neglected in the Asteraceae family, which includes many economically important leafy crops, such as Lactuca sativa and Cichorium species. To bridge this gap, we conducted an in-depth characterization of CRFs in lettuce (LsCRFs) and evaluated CRFs potential as targets for crop genetic improvement in both lettuce and tomato. Dedicated bioinformatic pipelines were developed, along with manually-curated genome annotations for lettuce. Transcriptomic meta-analyses under abiotic stress, combined with in-house RNA-seq transcript profiling under CK and oxidative stress treatments, were used to characterize the transcriptional responses of LsCRFs and cytokinin pathway genes. Gene Co-expression Networks (GCNs) identified specific LsCRF members as key hubs in the regulatory networks underlying the stress-development trade-off. Furthermore, an exploration of natural and domestication-related genetic diversity in germplasm collections of lettuce and tomato identified allelic variants of CRF genes that may confer stress tolerance, contributing to breeding for stress-resilient crops with improved pathogen response and photosynthetic traits.

Research products

11573/1718925 - 2024 - The effects of different combinations of cattle organic soil amendments and copper on lettuce (cv. Rufus) plant growth
De Carolis, Chiara; Iori, Valentina; Narciso, Alessandra; Gentile, Davide; Casentini, Barbara; Pietrini, Fabrizio; Grenni, P.; Barra Caracciolo, Anna; Adelaide Iannelli, M. - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: ENVIRONMENTS (Basel : Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) pp. - - issn: 2076-3298 - wos: WOS:001278849000001 (1) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85199600226 (1)

11573/1725703 - 2024 - CYTOKININS AND AUXIN PATHWAYS IN ASTERACEAE: A PATH FOR EXPLOITING HORMONAL NETWORKS IN LEAFY CROPS GENETIC IMPROVEMENT
Gentile, Davide; Chiatti, Valeria; Adelaide Iannelli, Maria; Iori, Valentina; Fabriani, Marco; De Luca1, Vanessa; Rodrigues-Pousada, Renato; Frugis, Giovanna - 04f Poster
conference: LXVII Convegno annuale della Società Italiana di Genetica Agraria (SIGA) (Bologna)
book: POSTER COMMUNICATIONS SIGA - ()

11573/1710258 - 2024 - CRF transcription factors in the trade-off between abiotic stress response and plant developmental processes
Gentile, Davide; Serino, Giovanna; Frugis, Giovanna - 01g Articolo di rassegna (Review)
paper: FRONTIERS IN GENETICS (Lausanne : Frontiers Research Foundation, 2010-) pp. - - issn: 1664-8021 - wos: WOS:001209461000001 (3) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85191883306 (3)

11573/1718927 - 2024 - Unravelling CRF-mediated pathways to address the growing need for resilient crops
Gentile, Davide; Serino, Giovanna; Frugis, Giovanna - 04f Poster
conference: LXVII Convegno annuale della Società Italiana di Genetica Agraria (SIGA) (Bologna)
book: POSTER COMMUNICATIONS SIGA - ()

11573/1707573 - 2023 - NOVEL GENETIC TOOLS FOR THE FINE-TUNING CONTROL OF IMPORTANT AGRONOMICAL TRAITS IN LEAFY CROP SPECIES (ENDI-FiT)
Chiatti, Valeria; De Carolis, Chiara; Del Bufalo, Alessandro; De Luca, Vanessa; Di Milia, Annamaria; Fabriani, Marco; Gentile, Davide; Iannelli Maria, Adelaide; Iori, Valentina; Marano, Vincenzo; Mosconi, Pietro; Samperna, Simone; Sestili, Francesco; Desplanches, Chantal; Suidgeest, Faira; Roobeek, Illja; Frugis, Giovanna - 04f Poster
conference: LXVI Convegno annuale della Società Italiana di Genetica Agraria (SIGA) (Bari, Italy)
book: POSTER COMMUNICATIONS SIGA - (978-88-944843-3-5)

11573/1707574 - 2023 - CHARACTERIZATION OF SOC1-LIKE GENES IN TOMATO BY INTEGRATING GENOMICS, GENETIC DIVERSITY, GENOME EDITING AND GENE CO-EXPRESSION NETWORK PLATFORMS
Del Bufalo, Alessandro; Gentile, Davide; Fabriani, Marco; D'orso, Fabio; Adelaide Iannelli, Maria; Albertini, Emidio; Frugis, Giovanna - 04f Poster
conference: LXVI Convegno annuale della Società Italiana di Genetica Agraria (SIGA) (Bari)
book: POSTER COMMUNICATIONS SIGA - (978-88-944843-3-5)

11573/1707568 - 2023 - The “SMART-BREED” Project: innovative molecular technologies to accelerate adaptation of horticultural species.
Frugis, Giovanna; Augelletti, Floriana; Baima, Simona; Brozzi, Ilaria; Carabelli, Monica; D'attilia, Chiara; Del Bufalo, Alessandro; De Luca, Vanessa; Di Pinto, Alberico; D'orso, Fabio; Chiatti, Valeria; Fabriani, Marco; Felici, Barbara; Forte, Valentina; Gentile, Davide; Adelaide Lannelli, Maria; Lori, Valentina; Morelli, Giorgio; Possenti, Marco; Samperna, Simone; Sessa, Giovanna - 04f Poster
conference: VIB Translational Research in Crops (Ghent (Belgium))
book: VIB conference series - ()

11573/1672094 - 2022 - Genome editing protocols and genetic diversity tools for flowering time adaptation in Asteraceae
D’Attilia, C.; Gentile, D.; D’Orso, F.; Iannelli, M. A.; Iori, V.; Frugis, G. - 04f Poster
conference: LXVI Convegno annuale della Società Italiana di Genetica Agraria (SIGA) (Piacenza (PC), Italy)
book: POSTER COMMUNICATIONS SIGA - (978-88-944843-3-5)

11573/1707656 - 2022 - THE SMART-BREED PROJECT: INNOVATIVE MOLECULAR TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE ADAPTATION OF HORTICULTURAL SPECIES TO CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH PRECISION BREEDING
Frugis, Giovanna; Augelletti, Floriana; Baima, Simona; Brozzi, Irene; Carabelli, Monica; D'attilia, Chiara; Del Bufalo, Alessandro; Di Pinto, Alberico; D'orso, Fabio; Felici, Barbara; Forte, Valentina; Gentile, Davide; Iannelli Maria, Adelaide; Iori, Valentina; Morelli, G.; Possenti, Marco; Scossa, Federico; Sessa, Giovanna - 04f Poster
conference: LXVI Convegno annuale della Società Italiana di Genetica Agraria (SIGA) (Bari)
book: POSTER COMMUNICATIONS SIGA - (978-88-944843-3-5)

11573/1672083 - 2022 - CRF (CYTOKININ RESPONSE FACTOR) transcription factors in abiotic-stress and flowering time: from Arabidopsis thaliana to Lactuca sativa and Solanum lycopersicum.
Gentile, D.; D’Attilia, C.; Iannelli, M. A.; Iori, V.; Serino, G.; Frugis, G. - 04f Poster
conference: LXVI Convegno annuale della Società Italiana di Genetica Agraria (SIGA) (Piacenza (PC), Italy)
book: POSTER COMMUNICATIONS SIGA - (978-88-944843-3-5)

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