Education

Ph.D in Evolutionary Biology, Department of Botany, University of Rome La Sapienza, 1989

Current position

Professor of Plant Physiology and Biotechnology, Department of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy

Publications

1. Sella, L., Gazzetti, K., Castiglioni, C., Schäfer, W., D'Ovidio, R. and Favaron, F. (2016). The Fusarium graminearum Xyr1 transcription factor regulates xylanase expression but is not essential for fungal virulence. Plant Pathology, doi: 10.1111/ppa.12456
   
2. Sella, L., Castiglioni, C., Paccanaro, M. C., Janni, M., Schafer, W., D'Ovidio, R. and Favaron, F. (2016). Involvement of Fungal Pectin Methylesterase Activity in the Interaction Between Fusarium graminearum and Wheat. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 29(4): 258-267.
   
3. Tundo, S., Moscetti, I., Faoro, F., Lafond, M., Giardina, T., Favaron, F., Sella, L. and D'Ovidio, R. (2015). Fusarium graminearum produces different xylanases causing host cell death that is prevented by the xylanase inhibitors XIP-I and TAXI-III in wheat. Plant Sci 240: 161-169.
   
4. Masci, S., Laino, P., Janni, M., Botticella, E., Di Carli, M., Benvenuto, E., Danieli, P. P., Lilley, K. S., Lafiandra, D. and D'Ovidio, R. (2015). Analysis of Quality-Related Parameters in Mature Kernels of Polygalacturonase Inhibiting Protein (PGIP) Transgenic Bread Wheat Infected with Fusarium graminearum. J Agric Food Chem 63(15): 3962-3969.
   
5. Kalunke, R. M., Tundo, S., Benedetti, M., Cervone, F., De Lorenzo, G. and D'Ovidio, R. (2015). An update on polygalacturonase-inhibiting protein (PGIP), a leucine-rich repeat protein that protects crop plants against pathogens. Front Plant Sci 6: 146.
   
6. Moscetti, I., Faoro, F., Moro, S., Sabbadin, D., Sella, L., Favaron, F. and D'Ovidio, R. (2015). The xylanase inhibitor TAXI-III counteracts the necrotic activity of a Fusarium graminearum xylanase in vitro and in durum wheat transgenic plants. Mol Plant Pathol 16(6): 583-592.
   
7. Gazza, L., Taddei, F., Conti, S., Gazzelloni, G., Muccilli, V., Janni, M., D'Ovidio, R., Alfieri, M., Redaelli, R. and Pogna, N. E. (2015). Biochemical and molecular characterization of Avena indolines and their role in kernel texture. Mol Genet Genomics 290(1): 39-54.
   
8. Forte, P., Virili, M. E., Kuzmanović, L., Moscetti, I., Gennaro, A., D’Ovidio, R. and Ceoloni, C. (2014). A novel assembly of Thinopyrum ponticum genes into the durum wheat genome: pyramiding Fusarium head blight resistance onto recombinant lines previously engineered for other beneficial traits from the same alien species. Mol Breeding 34:1701–1716, DOI 10.1007/s11032-014-0175-3
   
9. Kalunke, R. M., Cenci, A., Volpi, C., O'Sullivan, D. M., Sella, L., Favaron, F., Cervone, F., De Lorenzo, G. and D'Ovidio, R. (2014). The pgip family in soybean and three other legume species: evidence for a birth-and-death model of evolution. BMC Plant Biol 14: 189.
   
10. Egidi, E., Sestili, F., Janni, M., D'Ovidio, R., Lafiandra, D., Ceriotti, A., Vensel, W. H., Kasarda, D. D. and Masci, S. (2014). An asparagine residue at the N-terminus affects the maturation process of low molecular weight glutenin subunits of wheat endosperm. BMC Plant Biol 14: 64.
    
11. Volpi, C., Raiola, A., Janni, M., Gordon, A., O'Sullivan, D. M., Favaron, F. and D'Ovidio, R. (2013). Claviceps purpurea expressing polygalacturonases escaping PGIP inhibition fully infects PvPGIP2 wheat transgenic plants but its infection is delayed in wheat transgenic plants with increased level of pectin methyl esterification. Plant Physiol Biochem 73: 294-301.
    
12. Moscetti, I., Tundo, S., Janni, M., Sella, L., Gazzetti, K., Tauzin, A., Giardina, T., Masci, S., Favaron, F. and D'Ovidio, R. (2013). Constitutive expression of the xylanase inhibitor TAXI-III delays Fusarium head blight symptoms in durum wheat transgenic plants. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 26(12): 1464-1472.
    
13. Sella, L., Gazzetti, K., Faoro, F., Odorizzi, S., D'Ovidio, R., Schafer, W. and Favaron, F. (2013). A Fusarium graminearum xylanase expressed during wheat infection is a necrotizing factor but is not essential for virulence. Plant Physiol Biochem 64: 1-10.
    
14. Janni, M., Bozzini, T., Moscetti, I., Volpi, C. and D'Ovidio, R. (2013). Functional characterisation of wheat Pgip genes reveals their involvement in the local response to wounding. Plant Biol (Stuttg) 15(6): 1019-1024.
    
15. Kalunke, R., Janni, M., Benedettelli, S. and D'Ovidio, R. (2013). Using biolistics and hybridization to combine multiple glycosidase inhibitor transgenes in wheat. Euphytica, vol. 194, p. 443-457, doi: 10.1007/s10681-013-0972-5
    
16. Sestili, F., Botticella, E., Proietti, G., Janni, M., D'Ovidio, R., Lafiandra, D. (2012). Amylose content is not affected by overexpression of the Wx-B1 gene in durum wheat. Plant Breeding, 131: 700-706, doi:10.1111/j.1439-0523.2012.02004.x
    
17. Masci, S., Ferrante, P., Rivera, O. L., Sestili, F., Lafiandra, D. and D'Ovidio, R. (2012). Correspondence between two minor Glu-A3 genes of durum wheat and their encoded polypeptides by using a proteomic approach. J. Cereal Sci., vol. 55, p. 385-391, doi: 10.1016/j.jcs.2012.01.015
    
18. Rocchi, V., Janni, M., Bellincampi, D., Giardina, T. and D'Ovidio, R. (2012). Intron retention regulates the expression of pectin methyl esterase inhibitor (Pmei) genes during wheat growth and development. Plant Biol (Stuttg) 14(2): 365-373.
    
19. Ferrari, S., Sella, L., Janni, M., De Lorenzo, G., Favaron, F. and D'Ovidio, R. (2012). Transgenic expression of polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins in Arabidopsis and wheat increases resistance to the flower pathogen Fusarium graminearum. Plant Biol (Stuttg) 14 Suppl 1: 31-38.
    
20. Anderson, O. D., Bekes, F. and D’Ovidio, R. (2011). Effects of specific domains of high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits on dough properties by an in vitro assay. J. Cereal Sci., vol. 54, p. 280-287, doi:10.1016/j.jcs.2011.04.005
    
21. Volpi, C., Janni, M., Lionetti, V., Bellincampi, D., Favaron, F. and D'Ovidio, R. (2011). The ectopic expression of a pectin methyl esterase inhibitor increases pectin methyl esterification and limits fungal diseases in wheat. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 24(9): 1012-1019.
    
22. Kalunke, R. M., Janni, M., Sella, L., David, P., Geffroy, V., Favaron, F. and D'Ovidio, R. (2011). Transcript analysis of the bean polygalacturonase inhibiting protein gene family reveals that pvpgip2 is expressed in the whole plant and is strongly induced by pathogen infection. Journal of Plant Pathology, 93 (1), 141-148. 
    
23. Sestili, F., Janni, M., Doherty, A., Botticella, E., D'Ovidio, R., Masci, S., Jones, H. D. and Lafiandra, D. (2010). Increasing the amylose content of durum wheat through silencing of the SBEIIa genes. BMC Plant Biol 10: 144.
    
24. Lionetti, V., Francocci, F., Ferrari, S., Volpi, C., Bellincampi, D., Galletti, R., D'Ovidio, R., De Lorenzo, G. and Cervone, F. (2010). Engineering the cell wall by reducing de-methyl-esterified homogalacturonan improves saccharification of plant tissues for bioconversion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107(2): 616-621.
    
25. Lafiandra, D., Sestili, F., D’Ovidio, R., Janni, M., Botticella, E., Terrazzano, G., Silvestri, M., Ranieri, R. and DeAmbrogio, E. (2010). Approaches for the modification of starch composition in durum wheat. Cereal Chem 87: 28-34