Mr Markus Wilken

PhD Student
Tree Protection Co-operative Programme

Research Interests

Research Interests

After completion of an undergraduate degree specializing in Genetics, I obtained a BSc. Hons. degree working on the mating type genes of the Basidiomycete Amylostereum areolatum. My co-worker, Magriet van der Nest published the research as part of her PhD studies.

In June 2009, I obtained my MSc. degree in Genetics working for the TPCP program. My thesis focussed on mating in the genus Ophiostoma. I was able to show that O. quercus does not follow the genetic blueprint expected for heterothallic species. In addition, we were able to show that there is very little genetic variation in the MAT-2 gene for several representative species of Ophiostoma.

Currently I am busy with a PhD in which I will be driving the sequencing of the Ceratocystis fimbriata genome. We are hopeful that we will be able to answer some very intriguing questions with the help of the genome sequence.