UPM will be partner of MedBerry project and will contribute to research activities (tasks and deliverables) related to the following WPs:

WP1. Genetic resources and breeding material characterization. 
UPM-Italy has about 10 genotypes originated from backcross generation of F. x ananassa x F. virginiana glauca (Diamanti et al 2012) with high content of secondary polyphenols and phenolic acids metabolites; All this genetic material will be used in breeding programs and the segregating populations from bi-parental crosses will be tested in different environmental conditions, such as southern countries.
WP2. Cisgenic approach for inducing genetic resistance to pathogens in strawberry. 
Agrobacterium-mediated transformation trials will be carried out by using in vitro strawberry leaves to validate four silencing constructs, which target the two susceptibility genes Fawrky1 and Fanpr3 (or the GFP gene as control), under control of FaAAt2 and FaDOF2 promoters, and the intragenic MdMYB10 gene as marker gene.
WP3. Applying RNAi technology for inducing stable genetic resistance to pathogens and develop new RNAi based products for controlling pathogen diseases in strawberry. 
UPM-Italy has hairpin constructs targeting DCL-1 and -2 of B. cinerea (Wang et al. 2016). dsRNA molecules will be produced in Nicotiana benthamiana plants through agroinfiltration of these hairpin constructs or by in vitro synthesis. In vitro synthesized or extracted dsRNAs from agroinfiltrated leaves of N. benthamiana will be applied onto surface of strawberry leaves and fruit to test the antimicrobial properties of these RNAi molecules.
WP4. Provide data for economic studies on impact and sustainability of the application of the new technologies.