Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
University of California
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Dr. Barbara Blanco-Ulate

Photo of Dr Barbara Blanco-Ulate
Assistant Professor
Barbara Blanco-Ulate
549 Kleiber Hall Drive, University of California Davis
102 Mann Laboratory
Davis, CA 95616
(530) 752-9690
bblanco@ucdavis.edu Create VCard

Biography

Barbara Blanco-Ulate has recently been appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis with an emphasis in Postharvest Physiology. She obtained a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from UC Davis in Spring 2014. In her Ph.D. dissertation, she investigated the developmental control of tomato fruit susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea. The overarching aim of this project was to characterize fruit responses to fungal infection and to explore pathogen infection strategies. She did her postdoctoral research in the Department of Viticulture and Enology characterizing the impact of pathogen infections on the ripening and quality of grape berries. During her postdoctoral appointment, she established innovative approaches that integrate transcriptional profiling with metabolite and biochemical data to study the development and metabolism of ripening berries under field conditions. Her future research program will be focused on tomato and pepper fruit, which represent economically valuable postharvest commodities worldwide and particularly in California. Her research interests include the control of fruit ripening, fruit softening, improvement of fruit texture, flavor and aroma, and fruit-pathogen interactions.

Specialty

Postharvest Physiology, Fruit Biology, and Fruit-Pathogen Interactions.

Bibliography

Peer Reviewed

  • Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Hopfer, Helene; Figueroa-Balderas, Rosa; Ye, Zirou; Rivero, Rosa M; Albacete, Alfonso; Pérez-Alfocea, Francisco; Koyama, Renata; Anderson, Michael M; Smith, Rhonda J (2017). "Red blotch disease alters grape berry development and metabolism by interfering with the transcriptional and hormonal regulation of ripening." Journal of Experimental Botany 68(5): 1225-1238.
  • Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Labavitch, John M; Vincenti, Estefania; Powell, Ann LT; Cantu, Dario (2016). Hitting the Wall: Plant Cell Walls During Botrytis cinerea Infections. Botrytis: “the Fungus, the Pathogen and its Management in Agricultural Systems.S. Fillinger and Y. Elad. Springer.: 361-386.
  • Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Vincenti, Estefania; Cantu, Dario; Powell, Ann LT (2016). Ripening of Tomato Fruit and Susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea. Botrytis: The Fungus, the Pathogen and its Management in Agricultural Systems.S. Fillinger and Y. Elad. Springer.: 387-412.
  • Amrine, Katherine CH; Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Riaz, Summaira; Pap, Daniel; Jones, Laura; Figueroa-Balderas, Rosa; Walker, M Andrew; Cantu, Dario (2015). "Comparative transcriptomics of Central Asian Vitis vinifera accessions reveals distinct defense strategies against powdery mildew." Horticulture Research 2
  • Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Amrine, Katherine CH; Collins, Thomas S; Rivero, Rosa M; Vicente, Ariel R; Morales-Cruz, Abraham; Doyle, Carolyn L; Ye, Zirou; Allen, Greg; Heymann, Hildegarde (2015). "Developmental and metabolic plasticity of white-skinned grape berries in response to Botrytis cinerea during noble rot." Plant Physiology 169(4): 2422-2443.
  • Amrine, Katherine CH; Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Cantu, Dario (2015). "Discovery of core biotic stress responsive genes in Arabidopsis by weighted gene co-expression network analysis." PloS one 10(3): e0118731.
  • Morales-Cruz, Abraham; Amrine, Katherine CH; Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Lawrence, Daniel P; Travadon, Renaud; Rolshausen, Philippe E; Baumgartner, Kendra; Cantu, Dario (2015). "Distinctive expansion of gene families associated with plant cell wall degradation, secondary metabolism, and nutrient uptake in the genomes of grapevine trunk pathogens." BMC Genomics 16(1): 469.
  • Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Morales-Cruz, Abraham; Amrine, Katherine C. H.; Labavitch, John M.; Powell, Ann L. T.; Cantu, Dario (2014). "Genome-wide transcriptional profiling of Botrytis cinerea genes targeting plant cell walls during infections of different hosts." Frontiers in Plant Science 5(435)
  • Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Allen, Greg; Powell, Ann LT; Cantu, Dario (2013). "Draft genome sequence of Botrytis cinerea BcDW1, inoculum for noble rot of grape berries." Genome Announcements 1(3): e00252-13.
  • Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Rolshausen, Philippe; Cantu, Dario (2013). "Draft genome sequence of Neofusicoccum parvum isolate UCR-NP2, a fungal vascular pathogen associated with grapevine cankers." Genome Announcements 1(3): e00339-13.
  • Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Rolshausen, Philippe; Cantu, Dario (2013). "Draft genome sequence of the ascomycete Phaeoacremonium aleophilum strain UCR-PA7, a causal agent of the esca disease complex in grapevines." Genome Announcements 1(3): e00390-13.
  • Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Rolshausen, Philippe E; Cantu, Dario (2013). "Draft genome sequence of the grapevine dieback fungus Eutypa lata UCR-EL1." Genome Announcements 1(3): e00228-13.
  • Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Vincenti, Estefania; Powell, Ann LT; Cantu, Dario (2013). "Tomato transcriptome and mutant analyses suggest a role for plant stress hormones in the interaction between fruit and Botrytis cinerea." Frontiers in Plant Science 4: 142.
  • Cantu, Dario; Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Yang, Liya; Labavitch, John M; Bennett, Alan B; Powell, Ann LT (2009). "Ripening-regulated susceptibility of tomato fruit to Botrytis cinerea requires NOR but not RIN or ethylene." Plant Physiology 150(3): 1434-1449.

Non-Peer Reviewed

  • Labavitch, JM; Powell, ALT; Greve, LC; Blanco-Ulate, B; Cantu, D; Vicente, AR (2014). Cell Wall Metabolism: the Yin and Yang of Fruit Postharvest Biology. V International Conference Postharvest Unlimited 1079.
  • Blanco, B; Cantu, D; Bennett, AB; Labavitch, JM; Powell, ALT (2009). Modifications in Tomato Fruit Ripening Alter Susceptibility to the Pathogenic Fungus Botrytis cinerea. International Conference on Postharvest and Quality Management of Horticultural Products of Interest for Tropical Regions 906.
  • Blanco-Ulate, Barbara; Saborío, Adriana; Garro-Monge, Giovanni (2008). "Descripción anatómica, propiedades medicinales y uso potencial de Plantago major (llantén mayor)." Revista Tecnología en Marcha 21(2): 25.

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