I am fortunate to be studying something I love. Subsequent to completing my BSc and Honours in Biotechnology, my eyes have been opened to the beauty of biology, and the vast realm of things waiting to be discovered. Closer investigation of organisms unveils fascinating information, which is often useful to the human race. I am particularly interested in the modification of food crops to better sustain populations by bringing about improved nutrition and yields.

Another field wherein plant biotechnology can be utilized is the improvement of trees used in commercial forestry. For my degree in MSc Biotechnology, my interest lies in elucidating defence mechanisms in Eucalyptus against a destructive plant pathogen, Phytophthora cinnamomi. P. cinnamomi causes root rot and dieback of certain commercially valuable cold-tolerant eucalypts planted in South Africa. Species such as E. fraxinoides and E. fastigata are not planted anymore, due to the losses incurred as a result of Phytophthora root rot.

The Eucalyptus genome has been sequenced and this provides the opportunity to mine for orthologs of defence genes previously identified to be involved in other Phytophthora pathosystems. My project entails expression profiling of these Eucalyptus orthologs in a compatible interation with P. cinnamomi. It is hypothesized that these putative defence orthologs are differentially regulated, but to a smaller extent and at a later time-point relative to an incompatible interaction.

Expression profiles of these Eucalyptus defence orthologs regulated in response to P. cinnamomi infection, should aid the identification of genes involved in preventing Phytophthora root rot. In the long term it may be possible to identify candidate genes that can be engineered to provide resistance to this disease in Eucalyptus by genetic modification or breeding with marker assisted selection.