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Vegetable Biotechnology Laboratory: Molecular Ecophysiology of Woody Plants

Head: Prof. Rosario Muleo

E-mail: muleo@unitus.it

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5372-0675

The laboratory is equipped with the necessary equipment and instrumentation for research activities (sample preparation, nucleic acid extraction, gene expression analysis, mutation identification and phylogenetic analysis) and teaching support (internships, traineeships, master and PhD thesis, dissertations).

The main research areas developed are as follows:

  • the study of tree plant development, 
  • the study of flower and fruit induction and development, 
  • phase change in agamically micropropagated plants, 
  • the biodiversity of fruit-bearing tree plants, 
  • the study of secondary metabolism, 
  • the interaction of plants with the environment such as stress (water, anoxic and saline) and regulation (light and temperature).

The main investigated species are fruit crop species, although studies are also conducted on ornamental tree and forest species. In collaboration with other research groups, studies are carried out on synthetic molecules and small nucleic acids (miRNAs) extracted from fruit and leaves as the object of evaluation of specific biological activities (antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor), for applications in the agronomic, food, nutraceutical, cosmetic and pharmaceutical fields.