Chiara Catalano
- June 2023: winner of the prize for the best scientific article in fruit tree crop field announced by the Società di Ortoflorofrutticoltura Italiana (SOI) and by Pàtron editor, for the article "Reproductive Biology Factors Hampering Lemon [Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.] Genetic Improvement" (Agriculture, https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12122020).
- 2019-2022: PhD in Biotechnology, XXXV cycle, additional title of Internation Doctor. Title of the research project: “Deciphering the genetic determinism of the tolerance to biotic stress in lemon combining genetic and histological approaches”. Tutor: Prof. Alessandra Gentile. Co-tutor: Prof. Gaetano Distefano.
- November 2021 - March 2022: traineeship at the School of Plant Science and Food Security (Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel). Tutor: prof. Guido Sessa.
- 2019: Master’s degree in Agricultural Sciences and Technologies, University of Catania. Thesis title: “The key role of structural and regulatory genes controlling anthocyanin pigmentation in Citrus and related genera and acidity in sweet orange fruits”. Tutor: Prof. Gaetano Distefano. Co-tutor: Dr. Concetta Licciardello (CREA-OFA).
- From 11/03/2019 to 11/06/2019: Erasmus+ Traineeship at the John Innes Centre in Norwich (United Kingdom). Research activity: The determination of acidity in Citrus; gene identification, metabolite analysis and gene editing.
- 2017: Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences and Technologies, University of Catania. Thesis title: “Agriculture and Green Building: common paradigms of sustainability”. Tutor: Prof. Giovanni Cascone.
- 2014: High School Diploma in Scientific Studies at Istituto di Istruzione Secondaria Superiore “Galileo Ferraris” in San Giovanni La Punta, associated section of Aci Bonaccorsi (CT).
Last edit: 09/21/2023
Catalano, C., Ciacciulli, A., Salonia, F., Russo, M. P., Caruso, P., Caruso, M., Russo, G., Distefano, G., & Licciardello, C. (2020). Target-Genes Reveal Species and Genotypic Specificity of Anthocyanin Pigmentation in Citrus and Related Genera. Genes, 11(7), 807. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11070807
Catalano, C., Di Guardo, M., Distefano, G., Caruso, M., Nicolosi, E., Deng, Z., Gentile, A., & La Malfa, S. G. (2021). Biotechnological Approaches for Genetic Improvement of Lemon (Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.) against Mal Secco Disease. Plants (Basel, Switzerland), 10(5), 1002. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10051002
Di Guardo, M., Moretto, M., Moser, M., Catalano, C., Troggio, M., Deng, Z., Cestaro, A., Caruso, M., Distefano, G., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A. (2021) The haplotype-resolved reference genome of lemon (Citrus limon L. Burm f.). Tree Genetics & Genomes 17, 46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-021-01528-5
Catalano, C., Las Casas, G., Giuffrida, A., Ferlito, F., Di Guardo, M., Continella, A., Bennici, S., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A., Distefano, G. (2022). Reproductive biology factors hampering lemon [Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.] genetic improvement. Accepted for publication in Agriculture).
Catalano, C., Di Guardo, M., Distefano, G., Gentile, A., La Malfa, S. (2022). Genetic Improvement of Citrus Limon (L.) Burm f. for Resistance to Mal Secco Disease. In: Kole, C. (eds) Genomic Designing for Biotic Stress Resistant Fruit Crops. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91802-6_3
Ciacciulli, A., Catalano, C., Salonia, F., Caruso, M., Caruso, P., Russo, M.P., Russo, G., Distefano, G., Licciardello, C. Origine ed ereditarietà della pigmentazione dell’arancia e di altri organi. Frutticoltura (Dossier Agrumi), n. 1 - January 2021, 52-54
Catara, V., Lo Piero, A.R., Russo, M., Bazzano, M., Catalano, C., Dimaria, G., Lo Cicero, L., Modica, F., Mosca, A., Musumeci, S., Scialò, E., Seminara, S., Sicilia, A., Di Guardo, M., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A., Distefano, G. Le Biotecnologie sono un supporto fondamentale alla difesa dal Mal secco. Frutticoltura, n. 1 - January 2022, 16-21
Catalano, C., Seminara, S., Licciardello, G., Modica, F., Musumeci, S., Lo Cicero, L., Di Guardo, M., Tropea Garzia, G., Biondi, A., Catara, V., Distefano, G., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A. Phenotyping and genotyping of a lemon segregating population to mining genetic resistance to biotic stresses. Proceeding of the III International Organic Fruit Symposium and I International Organic Vegetable Symposium, 14-17 December 2021, Catania, Italy, Acta Horticulturae 1354, 10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1354.12.
Catalano, C., Licciardello, G., Seminara, S., Tropea Garzia, G., Biondi, A., Di Guardo, M., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A., Distefano, G. Phenotyping and genotyping of a lemon segregating population to mining genetic resistance. Proceeding of the XXXI International Horticultural Congress, 14-20 August 2022, Angers, France (in course of publication).
Di Guardo, M., Moretto, M., Moser, M., Catalano, C., Troggio, M., Deng, Z., Cestaro, A., Caruso, M., Distefano, G., Russo, R., Di Silvestro, S., Arlotta C., Pietro Paolo, D., Russo G., La Malfa, S., Bianco, L., Gentile, A. De novo assembly of Citrus limon and target-sequence genotyping towards the detection of genes involved in tolerance to ‘mal secco’ disease. Proceedings of the XXXI International Horticultural Congress, 14-20 August 2022, Angers, France (in course of publication)
Di Guardo, M., Moretto, M., Moser, M., Catalano, C., Troggio, M., Deng, Z., Cestaro, A., Caruso, M., Distefano, G., La Malfa, S., Bianco, L., Gentile, A. Il genoma del limone è stato sequenziato. Nuova linfa alla ricerca. Frutticoltura, Speciale Agrumi, n.1 - January 2022, 10-14.
Conference participations
Catalano, C., Licciardello, G., Seminara, S., Di Guardo, M., Tropea Garzia, G., Biondi, A., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A., Distefano G. Genetic determinism of lemon resistance to the two-spotted spider mite attack. 14th International Citrus Congress, 6-11 November 2022, Mersin, Turkey (abstract accepted as oral presentation)
Catalano, C., Di Guardo, M., Distefano, G., Eyal, Y., Sessa, G., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A. Investigating defence response mechanisms against Plenodomus tracheiphilus infection in citrus genotypes. 14th International Citrus Congress, 6-11 November 2022, Mersin, Turkey (abstract accepted as poster presentation)
Las Casas, G., Catalano, C., Giuffrida, A., Felis, D.M., Ferlito, F., Di Guardo, M., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A., Distefano, G. Characterization of nucellar polyembryony trait in lemon germplasm. 14th International Citrus Congress, 6-11 November 2022, Mersin, Turkey (abstract accepted as poster presentation)
Distefano, G., Di Guardo, M., Seminara, S., Scollo, F., Catalano C., Bennici, S., Inzirillo, I., Nicolosi, E., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A., Licciardello, C., Las Casas, G., Pietropaolo, D., Arlotta, C., Marchese, M., Giuffrida A., Torrisi, B., Ferlito, F., Caruso M. Study of genetic and phenotypic variability in blood oranges germplasm. 14th International Citrus Congress, 6-11 November 2022, Mersin, Turkey (abstract accepted as oral presentation by prof. Gaetano Distefano)
Arlotta, C., Cortese, M., Ciacciulli, A., Pietro Paolo, D., Russo, R., Licciardello, G., Licciardello, C., Di Guardo, M., Catalano, C., Seminara, S., Distefano, G., Licciardello, G., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A., Di Silvestro, S., Russo, G., Caruso, M. A phenotyping method to select lemon hybrids tolerant to mal secco disease: a resource for breeding and mapping. 14th International Citrus Congress, 6-11 November 2022, Mersin, Turkey (abstract accepted as poster presentation)
Catalano, C., Licciardello, G., Seminara, S., Di Guardo, M., Tropea Garzia, G., Biondi, A., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A., Distefano, G. Phenotyping and genotyping of a lemon segregating population to mining genetic resistance to the two-spotted spider mite attack. XXXI International Horticultural Congress, 14-20 August 2022, Angers, France (oral presentation)
Di Guardo, M., Moretto, M., Moser, M., Catalano, C., Troggio, M., Deng, Z., Cestaro, A., Caruso, M., Distefano, G., Russo, R., Di Silvestro, S., Arlotta C., Pietro Paolo, D., Russo G., La Malfa, S., Bianco, L., Gentile, A. De novo assembly of Citrus limon and target-sequence genotyping towards the detection of genes involved in tolerance to ‘mal secco’ disease. XXXI International Horticultural Congress, 14-20 August 2022, Angers, France (oral presentation by Dr. Mario Di Guardo)
Licciardello, G., Catalano, C., Sciara, M., Di Silvestro, S., Russo, M.P., Sorrentino, G.1, Strano, M.C., Distefano, G., Catara, V., Caruso P. Evaluation of olive (Olea europaea) genotypes for resistance to Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi at an International Olive Germoplasm collection. 14th International Conference on Plant Pathogenic Bacteria (ICPPB), 3-8 July 2022, Assis, Italy (poster presentation).
Catalano, C., Seminara, S., Licciardello, G., Di Guardo, M., Tropea Garzia, G., Biondi, A., Catara, V., Distefano, G., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A. Phenotyping and genotyping of a lemon segregating population to mining genetic resistance to biotic stresses. III International Organic Fruit Symposium and I International Organic Vegetable Symposium, 14-17 December 2021, Catania, Italy (oral presentation)
Catalano, C., Licciardello, G., Seminara, S., Distefano, G., Di Guardo, M., Tropea Garzia, G., Tortorici, S., Zappalà, L., Biondi, A., La Malfa, S.G., Gentile. A. Caratterizzazione di una popolazione di limone per l’identificazione di fonti di resistenza di origine genetica a stress biotici. XIII Giornate Scientifiche della Società di Ortoflorofrutticoltura Italiana (SOI), 22-23 June 2021, Catania, Italy, Acta Italus Hortus, 26, p. 130 (poster)
Di Guardo, M., Moretto, M., Moser, M., Catalano, C., Troggio, M., Deng, Z., Cestaro, A., Caruso, M., Distefano, G., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A. Il genoma di limone, un nuovo strumento per lo studio di caratteri di interesse agronomico e per il breeding. XIII Giornate Scientifiche della Società di Ortoflorofrutticoltura Italiana (SOI), 22-23 June 2021, Catania, Italy, Acta Italus Hortus, 26, p. 18 (oral presentation by Dr. Mario Di Guardo)
Catalano C., Salonia, F., Ciacciulli, A., Russo, M.P., Poles, L., Caruso, P., Distefano, G., Caruso, M., Russo, G., Licciardello, C., (2019). Poster dal titolo “A gene-specific approach illustrates the anthocyanins tissue-specificity on citrus species and related genera”. Abstract book of the10th International Workshop on Anthocyanins & Betalains – IWA&B 2019.
Ciacciulli, A., Salonia, F., Poles, L., Pappalardo, H. D., Caruso, M., Caruso, P., Russo, M.P., Catalano, C., Russo, G., Licciardello, C., (2019). Poster dal titolo “A cisgenesis and target editing approach to improve health properties of citrus fruits combining anthocyanins and lycopene”. Abstract book of the10th International Workshop on Anthocyanins & Betalains – IWA&B 2019.
Catalano, C., Atkins, E., Butelli, E., Martin, C., Licciardello, C., (2019). “Anthocyanins and acidity, two interconnected qualitative traits of Citrus genera under the control of shared transcription factors”. 6th International Horticulture Research Conference (www.hortres-conference.org, oral presentation by Dr. Licciardello C.).
Salonia, F., Catalano C., Russo, R., Licciardello, C., Russo, G., Caruso, M. 2018. Poster dal titolo “Application of Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) to improve the efficiency of the CREA Citrus breeding program”. LXII SIGA Annual Congress, Verona 25-28 Settembre 2018. Session 6, Plant Genetics and Genomics: 6.31.