Mennat El Ghalid: How fungi recognize (and infect) plants
Mennat El Ghalid: Como é que os fungos reconhecem e infetam as plantas
Mennat El Ghalid research aims to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying fungal biology and pathogenicity. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
dar cabo do castanheiro?
counting nearly four billion trees,
do oeste dos EUA,
by a fungal infection.
por uma infeção de fungos.
pathogens of plants,
mais destrutivos das plantas,
economic importance.
importância económica.
with fungal infection
associadas a infeções de fungos,
per year, worldwide?
de dólares por ano, a nível mundial?
to feed half a billion people.
suficientes para alimentar 500 mil pessoas.
in developing countries,
em países em desenvolvimento,
for farmers and distributors,
dos agricultores e distribuidores,
poison produced by fungi.
um veneno produzido por fungos.
used to prevent and treat
usados para a prevenção e tratamento
exploiting natural sources of resistance,
naturais de resistência,
treatment, among others,
entre outros,
permanentemente.
to develop more efficient strategies
de arranjar estratégias mais eficazes
to identify biological mechanisms
para identificar mecanismos biológicos
by novel antifungal treatments.
por um novo tratamento antifungos.
is that they cannot move
é que não podem mover-se
to form a sophisticated network,
para formar uma rede sofisticada,
the father of plant pathology,
o pai da patologia das plantas,
that fungi are guided by signals
que os fungos são guiados por sinais
it can lodge and subsist,
ele pode alojar-se e subsistir.
crescerem nessa direção,
of such signals
desses sinais
that then serves to elaborate strategy
que serviriam para elaborar a estratégia
between the fungus and the plant.
entre o fungo e a planta.
method at that moment
naquela época
this mechanism at the molecular level.
esse mecanismo a nível molecular.
genomic approaches,
e da genómica mutacional,
of directed hyphal growth,
direto das hifas,
that after 130 years,
que, ao fim de 130 anos,
could finally identify such plant signals
conseguimos identificar finalmente
between a pathogenic fungus
entre um fungo patogénico
the tomato plant.
o tomateiro.
receiving those signals
que recebe esses sinais
occurring within the fungus
que ocorre no interior do fungo
toward the plant.
na direção da planta.
of such molecular processes
destes processos moleculares
de moléculas potenciais
novel antifungal treatments.
tratamentos antifúngicos novos.
the fungus and the plant
o fungo e a planta
which receives those signals.
que recebe esses sinais.
agriculture crops.
têm devastado culturas agrícolas.
is increasing significantly.
está a aumentar significativamente.
economic development,
ao desenvolvimento económico,
e à procura de biocombustíveis.
of the molecular mechanism
do mecanismo molecular
a fungus and its host plant,
um fungo e a sua planta hospedeira,
towards developing more efficient strategy
um importante passo
duma estratégia mais eficaz
fungíferas das plantas
that affect people's lives,
que afetam a vida das pessoas,
e o crescimento económico.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Mennat El Ghalid - MycologistMennat El Ghalid research aims to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying fungal biology and pathogenicity.
Why you should listen
Mycologist Mennat El Ghalid received an Initial Training Networks - Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship to pursue her PhD project in the Molecular Genetics of Fungal Pathogenicity Unit and the International Campus of Excellence in Agrifood CeiA3 at the Universidad de Cordoba (Spain). During her PhD, her former team and herself identified the compounds secreted from the plant roots attracting Fusarium oxysporum, a soilborne plant pathogenic fungus and characterized the underlying mechanisms of attraction. Such compounds were tracked since the 19th century. The discovery was published in the Nature Journal.
El Ghalid became a TED Fellow in 2017 and have been selected as one of the 100 women honorees for OkayAfrica's 2018 #OKAY100Women list for her dedicated work and for being a promising talent within the field of STEM. She is currently working at Institut Pasteur (France) in the Biology and Pathogenicity Unit to study Candida albicans, an opportunistic pathogenic fungus and the main cause of fungal infections in immunocompromised humans.
Mennat El Ghalid | Speaker | TED.com