Octave Lacroix

Aline Koch

"I decided to apply for the ViroiDoc call for applications because I saw it as an excellent opportunity to study a subject that is deeply rooted in current concerns and uncertainties related to climate change. Plant protection has always interested me, and having the possibility to carry out my work in a well-structured setting is a great opportunity. I am also eager to acquire doctoral knowledge and continue my research in a field that is attracting growing interest, such as viroids."


Octave is ViroiDoc MSCA fellow (DC2) at the Slovenian Institute of Hop Research and Brewing (IHPS).

 

Individual Research Projects (IRP): 
Climate change impact on viroid diseases

Hops (Humulus lupus L.) are perennial flowering plants, cultivated for their cones used in brewing industry for their bitterness flavor and their role in preserving beer. Hops can be infected by a wide range of viroids such as Hop stunt viroid (HSVd), Hop latent viroid (HLVd), Apple fruit crinkle viroid (AFCVd) and Cocadviroid rimocitri (Citrus bark cracking viroid,CBCVd). The latter is a major threat to Slovenian hop fields, with serious symptoms appearing just one year after infection, followed by plant death after 3 to 5 years. Biology of viroids was observed to be correlated with climate fluctuations. This PhD thesis aims at studying the impact of climate change on CBCVd-infected hops, modelized by two main environmental stress components: temperature (temperature increase and early/late frost) and precipitation (drought and heavy rainfall). Viroid pathogenicity in response to climate change will be analyzed through four main components: visual assessment of hop phenotype and physiological analysis of hop, analysis of hop field infection patterns over several decades, quantification of CBCVd concentration in different hop plant organs, and extraction and analysis of plant secondary metabolites. The influence of environmental stress conditions will be observed and studied in several contexts: plants placed in controlled growth chambers (in vitro, and in vivo in pot experiments), and field observations in conventional hop fields. Studying the influence of environmental stress on viroid-infected hops will provide a better understanding of viroid pathogenicity pathways and the prospects for climate-related viroid control methods.

 

O. Lacroix (IHPS), M. Mikulič Petkovšek (BF UL), J. Jakše (BF UL), S. Radišek (IHPS)

The text above was submitted as poster abstract for the Viroids2025 conference in Bari, Italy. 

Project presentation

  1. Octave Lacroix presented his ViroiDoc IRP on poster at the International Conference Viroid 2025 - Viroids and viroid-like RNAs in Bari, Italy.