Francesco Mercati

Francesco Mercati is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Biosciences and BioResources (IBBR-CNR) in Palermo, Italy. His work focuses on plant genetics, bioinformatics, and biodiversity conservation, leveraging next-generation sequencing (NGS) and molecular markers to study species like grapevine, citrus, and asparagus. He has collaborated internationally, including work at the University of Georgia (USA), and contributed to advancements in nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and DNA barcoding.

• Education:
  • PhD in Biology Applied to Agri-Food and Forest Systems (2012), University of Reggio Calabria
  • Bachelor’s Degree in Cell Biology and Development (2003), University of Pisa
• Research Interests:
  • NGS applications in plant genetics
  • DNA barcoding for species identification
  • Genetic diversity and population structure analysis
  • Transcriptomics of stress responses
  • NUE in crops like eggplant and durum wheat
  • Somatic embryogenesis in citrus
• Collaborations and Projects:
  • LIMSEED Asparagus project (sex determination genes)
  • Italian wine database development
  • European Community-funded genetic polymorphism studies
• Publications:
  • Recent work spans grapevine domestication, caper genomics, and Citrus somatic regeneration
  • Key themes: stress adaptation, symbiotic interactions, gene family evolution