Everyone is welcome to attend the thesis defence of Vanessa Clemis who will present the "Mapping and functional characterization of powdery mildew resistance genes in flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)" to complete the requirements for the MSc in Molecular and Macromolecular Sciences.

Thesis description: Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is a dual-purpose crop widely cultivated for its fiber and seed properties. However, the crop incurs yield and seed quality losses due to fungal diseases, including powdery mildew (PM) caused by the obligate biotrophic fungus Podosphaera lini. Whereas several PM-resistant flax cultivars are known, the genetic factors and mechanisms of flax resistance to PM are not well established. Genome-wide association mapping was conducted in the NorMan x Linda flax population and 75 quantitative trait loci and quantitative trait nucleotides were identified, and were co-located with 91 resistance gene analogs. Furthermore, 6 candidate resistance genes were used for gene expression analyses and differential gene expression was observed. Altogether, this study identified candidate genes associated with PM resistance, provided new insights into the potential mechanisms of action for flax resistance to PM, and will help in designing strategies for developing flax lines with increased PM resistance.