UNCOVERING THE MOLECULAR BASIS FOR CHILLING TOLERANCE OF THE GRAY MOLD PHYTOPATHOGENIC FUNGUS BOTRYTIS CINEREA

Fungal pathogens are considered the main cause of postharvest losses of fresh fruits and vegetables, which are estimated at about 30% product loss globally. Low temperature storage is an efficient practice to prolong the postharvest performance of crops with minimal negative impact to human health and the environment. However, some phytopathogenic fungi like Botrytis cinerea, are highly tolerant to low temperature conditions and can grow and cause rotting and decay of fruit during cold storage.

B.cinerea is a highly important plant pathogen that causes grey mold diseases during pre- and post- harvest, on more than 1,400 plant species, including many economically important crops causing major postharvest losses in a wide range of crops.

In order to uncover the molecular basis of B. cinerea cold tolerance we have characterized the morphology and physiology of 10 different Botrytis strains at 7, 12, 20 and 24◦C. These strains, that were isolated from various crops plants like grapes, peppers and strawberries, showed significant variability with regard to their hyphal morphology, growth & conidiation pattern shift, sclerotia production and pathogenicity under low temperatures.

The correlation between these phenotypic properties to transcriptomic and metabolic changes during their growth at low temperature will be examined to advance our understanding of the molecular basis of Botrytis infectivity at cold conditions. Hopefully, this data will facilitate the development of environment-friendly treatments to control postharvest gray mold to minimize the rotting of fruits stored at low temperatures.