Welcome to the world of plant viruses

Our research is focused on the study of plant viruses.

From the management of viral diseases to the biotechnological application or metabolic engineering, plant viruses can be both mighty foe or a useful tool. We work mostly with model plant species such as A. thaliana and N. benthamiana but we are also interested in crop plants such as potatoes and legumes - soybean and pea. 

With the use of GoldenBraid standard we have modified the genomes of several  RNA and DNA plant viruses so that they can be assembled as Lego(R) bricks from basic parts to gain new functions. Currently, we work with Potato virus X, Tobacco mosaic virus, Tobacco rattle virus, Bean yellow dwarf virus and Apple latent spherical virus. Using these viruses and their parts we design genomic elements and complex plant expression cassettes for metabolic engineering of plant cells.