Mihail Angelov

With a BSc in agronomy and MSc in plant protection, Mr. Angelov has solid agricultural foundations, gained both through his studies and his thesis work on distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) testing, and identification of virus resistance genes for the needs of breeding programs in tomatoes. During an internship at West Pomeranian University of Technology (Szczecin, Poland) he was able to work on preharvest sprouting and lodging in rye and take part in the routine genotyping tasks in the genetics department. Now as a laboratory technician/manager he supports the researchers in the Molecular Stress Physiology Department at CPSBB in their quest to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the response of plants to abiotic stress. Working in the frame of the RESIST project, as a visiting scientist at the company BioAtlantis, Mr. Angelov investigated the effects of prolonged elevated temperatures on fruit set and yield in tomatoes, and the potential alleviation of this abiotic stress with the help of a seaweed extract biostimulant, employing a multi-faceted approach combining physiological analyses, and qualitative and quantitative fruit parameters. Along with this, he took part in experiments, aiming to optimize the product application and other ongoing research activities at BioAtlantis. The CropPrime project, which is a natural continuation of RESIST and is based on some of the progress, achieved during this project, will allow Mr. Angelov to improve his skills in molecular biology wet work, and learn new techniques in plant genetics and systems biology, working on transcriptome profiling and ChIP-Seq of plants, treated with lead candidate elicitors, as well as elucidating their molecular mode of action.

During his stay at VIB-PSB in Ghent, Belgium, Mihail took part in multiple experiments, most of which focused on the effects of different elicitors on Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana benthamiana. Two elicitors were tested with plants, grown on soil - a Phytophthora extract and pure fucoidan, both as foliar spray, and by fertigation. Along with their effect on the plants, the potential for heat stress remediation was tested. Measurements included biometry and quantum efficiency of photosystem II (PSII). Histones were extracted from some of the replicates, in order to determine acetylation levels, which is a known stress marker.

Additionally seven (both commercially available compounds and ones under development) were tested on part of the Prom:LUC Arabidopsis library, available at VIB-PSB. This method helps to gauge the effect on promotor activity in a high-throughput multi-well format, allowing assessment of multiple elicitors simultaneously. Four promotors with connection to stress response were tested - EAL4, SOT12, NAC102 and EXS. Stress was induced with the help of hydrogen peroxide, and along gene activity the quantum efficiency of PSII was determined. Results showed varied interactions by the elicitors and promotors, indicating different pathways being triggered.

A number of CRISPR/Cas9 KO mutants were also developed. This is a relatively novel and very robust approach with potential for a wide array of applications.

While at VIB, Mihail participated in three courses on various topics - Scientific Writing & Oral Presentations, Basic statistics in R and Basic statistics in R.