Ciro De Pace

Research activities:

Coordinator of past and present collaborative research projects at European level, bilateral projects with University of California (Davis, USA), CIP (Lima, Peru), ICARDA (Aleppo, Syria), HAS-Agricultural Research Institute (Hungary), and national research projects on genetics and breeding of crop species (wheat, faba bean, artichoke, potato, Jerusalem artichoke, hazelnut) and wild plant relatives of crop species.

Currently, he is involved in National and International Research Projects aiming at: (a) diversification and optimization of bread wheat productivity through the synthesis of both amphiploids and trait-enhanced introgression inbred lines, using Triticum sp. x Dasypyrum villosum intergeneric hybridization; (b) identification of  Dasypyrum villosum genes valuable for wheat improvement in low-input and organic farming systems; (c) widening the accessibility to molecular markers and breeding materials for selecting and improving fruit yield in hazelnut and sweet chestnut, and  carbohydrate-rich biomass in Jerusalem artichoke to be transformed in liquid biofuels.

The main research approaches rely on the use of biotechniques for the phenotypic expression of genetic markers (isoenzymes, seed storage proteins, RAPD, AFLP, RFLP, SCAR, and SSR) that allow the development of the following methodologies, which are instrumental for achieving the mentioned aims :

• Identification of specific genetic markers for Dasypyrum villosum chromosomes;
• Tagging D. villosum genes for foliar diseses resistance and grain end-use quality in wheat introgression breeding lines;
•  Association mapping in D. villosum and Corylus avellana;
•  Measurement of the genetic diversity in gene-pools of Corylus avellana and sweet chestnut (Castanea. sativa) to increase the efficiency of ecotones multifunctionality at the forestry-agricultural area boundary;
• Marker-assisted selection for increasing, in sustainable farming systems, the production of Jerusalem artichoke tuber and stem feedstocks to be transformed in bioethanol.