RNAi for Plant Improvement and Protection

Bruno Mezzetti (Edited By) Full Professor since 2006 and Director of Department 2009-2015, now chair of the PhD school in Agriculture, Food and Environmental sciences and of the UNIDO Second Level Master's Degree on Biosafety of Plant Biotechnology Cordinator of 2 COST actions (COST836, COST863) and the FP7 project KBBE, EUBerry (www.euberry.univpm.it/), as well as having participated as a partner in 5 other EU projects. He is currently coordinator of a new COST action - iPLanta (http://www.cost-fa1405.eu/activities/short-term-scientific-missions) and partner of a new Horizon 2020 Goodberry project (http: // www. goodberry-eu.eu/). He has been coordinator and partner of several MIUR (PRIN) and Mipaf projects, as well as several projects with private companies operating in the nursery and fruit production sector. Prof. Mezzetti is author of a total of 156 publications in SCOPUS journals (IF:32) and several book chapters, topic review manuscripts and extension non-indexed publications. He has Chaired 4 ISHS international symposiums.

Chapter 1: Introduction to RNAi in Plant Production and Protection. Bruno Mezzetti, Jeremy Sweet and Lorenzo Burgos Chapter 2: Gene silencing to induce pathogen-derived resistance in plants. Zhen Liao, Elena Zuriaga, Ángela Polo and Maria L. Badenes Chapter 3: Exogenous application of small RNAs as a tool for gene function discovering. Barbara Molesini and Tiziana Pandolfini Chapter 4: The “Trojan Horse” approach for successful RNA interference in inscects. Dimitrios Kontogiannatos, Anna Kolliopoulou and Luc Swevers. Chapter 5: Biogenesis and functional RNAi in fruit-trees. Michel Ravelonandro and Pascal Briard Chapter 6: Gene silencing or gene editing: the pros and cons. Huw D Jones Chapter 7: Application of RNAi technology in Forest Trees. Matthias Fladung, Hely Haggman and S. Sutela Chapter 8: Host-induced gene silencing and spray-induced gene silencing for crop protection against viruses. Angela Ricci, Silvia Sabbadini, Laura Miozzi, Bruno Mezzetti and Emanuela Noris. Chapter 9: Small talk and large impact: the importance of small RNA molecules in the fight of plant diseases. Kristian Persson Hodén and Christina Dixelius Chapter 10: dsRNA stability during external applications – an overview. Ivelin Pantchev, Goritsa Rakleova and Atanas Atanassov Chapter 11: Boosting dsRNA delivery in plant and insect cells with peptide- and polymer-based carriers: cases-based current status and future perspectives. Kristof de Schutter, Olivier Christiaens, Clauvis Nji Tizi Taning and Guy Smagghe Chapter 12: Environmental safety assessment of RNAi plants for pest control. Salvatore Arpaia, Olivier Christiaens, Paul Henning Krogh, Kimberly Parker and Jeremy Sweet Chapter 13: Food and feed safety assessment of RNAi plants and products. Hanspeter Naegeli, Gijs Kleter and Antje Dietz-Pfeilstetter Chapter 14: Regulatory aspects of RNAi in plant production. Werner Schenkel and Achim Gathmann Chapter 15: The Economics of RNAi technology in plant breeding: from the innovation landscape to consumer acceptance. Dario Frisio and Vera Ventura Chapter 16: Communication challenges of RNAi and selected communication messages from iPLANTA for dissemination. Hilde-Gunn Opsahl-Sorteberg