Resistance to Potato virus Y (PVY) in potato cv. Pito transformed with the P1 gene of PVY

ACADEMIC DISSERTATION IN PLANT PATHOLOGY To be presented with the permission of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Helsinki for public criticism in Viikki, Auditorium B2, on June 30th, at 12 o'clock noon. HELSINKI 2000 2 Mäki-Valkama, T. Resistance to Potato virus Y (PVY) in potato cv. Pito transformed with the P1 gene of PVY. Doctoral thesis in plant pathology. 43 p. + appendices. 4 PREFACE The present study was carried out in the Departments of Plant Production and Plant Biology at the University of Helsinki, Finland. I thank both departments for offering good facilities in which to carry out the research work. and Aino Tiura Foundation for Agricultural Research, which are gratefully acknowledged. I also thank the Rector of the University of Helsinki for the grant that was used to finalize this thesis. My sincere thanks are due to Professor Eija Pehu, the leader of this research project and my supervisor. I thank her for introducing me to this fascinating topic of study and for helping and supporting me in many ways during these years, especially at the beginning of this research. I am grateful to her for allowing me quite independently to carry out the research studies and to take responsibility also for other things related to research, since it has positively influenced my independence and self-confidence as a researcher. Through her contacts I was able to visit Cornell University in the USA, for which I am grateful. I am indepted to Professor Jari Valkonen for excellent supervision. My warmest thanks are due for his tremendous support and never-ending interest towards my work during these years. I am grateful to him for all the inspiring scientific discussions and for making such a significant effort to improve my skills in scientific writing. I thank him especially for sharing all those tiny little secrets of PVY-potato interactions and for having such a good sense of humor. I thank Emeritus Professor Eeva Tapio for introducing me to the fascinating world of plant pathology when I was an undergraduate student. My sincere thanks are also due to Dr. Kristiina Mäkinen and Dr. Peter Palukaitis for their critical review, and Dr. Jonathan Robinson for the linguistic revision of the manuscript of this thesis. My warm thanks go to the co-authors of the publications for their collaboration. I thank Professor Juha Helenius, Dr. Harri Nyberg and Professor Kim von Weissenberg …