Verticillium - Laboratory of Phytopathology

Verticillium spp. are soil-borne plant pathogens that cause vascular wilt diseases in many economically important crops.

Verticillium wilt diseases are difficult to control due to the long viability of the resting structures, the broad host range of the pathogens, and the inability of fungicides to eliminate the pathogens once they have entered the xylem tissues of the plant. In our research we employ tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), Australian tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana) and thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) as model plants to investigate the biology of Verticillium wilt diseases.

Here is a Verticillium pathogen profile for more information on the pathogen.