
Group Leader,
Bacteriology
Scientific Coordinator
International Centre for Genetic Engineering
and Biotechnology
Padriciano 99
34149 Trieste, Italy
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: +39-040-3757319/17
Facilities:
Strains4Plants
Education
University of Edinburgh, UK, BSc (Hons in Molecular Biology) in Biological Sciences, 1998
Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, PhD, 2014 “Gene regulation of siderophore mediated iron assimilation in Pseudomonas putida”
Career History
Since March 1997, Group Leader of the Bacteriology Group of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Trieste, Italy.
1995-1997, Postdoc at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Trieste, Italy
1990-1995, PhD Student at the Department of Molecular Genetics of the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
1989-1990, EU fellow at the International Centre for Cellular and Molecular Pathology, Medical Faculty of the University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Brussels, Belgium.
Scientific Activity
Scientific interests are (i) how plant associated bacteria undergo interspecies communication and interkingdom signaling with plants, (ii) the role of LuxR solos in plant associated proteobacteria and (ii) plant microbiomes and the development of microbial products for a more sustainable agriculture.
Supervised several PhD students and postdocs most of whom coming from developing countries. Invited as speaker to many international symposia, organized several international workshops and courses and managed numerous national and international grants from government agencies, foundations and industry. Acting as editor of two international journals and is a regular reviewer for journals and funding agencies.
Teaching Activity
Organizer of several international workshops and courses. University of Trieste, 48 hour course entitled “Environmental Microbiology”
Selected publications
Published 150 papers in international peer-reviewed scientific journals: Google scholar citations
Venturi, V. Keel, C. Signaling in the rhizosphere. 2016. Trends Plant Sci. 21: p. 187-198. PubMed link
Venturi V, Ahmer BM. 2015. Editorial: LuxR Solos are Becoming Major Players in Cell-Cell Communication in Bacteria. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 5:89.
Venturi, V., Fuqua, C. 2013. Chemical signaling between plants and plant-pathogenic bacteria. Annu Rev Phytopathol, 2013. 51: p. 17-37. PubMed link
Gonzalez JF, Venturi V. 2013. A novel widespread interkingdom signaling circuit. Trends Plant Sci 18:167-74.
Venturi V, Passos da Silva D. 2012. Incoming pathogens team up with harmless ‘resident’ bacteria. Trends Microbiol 20:160-164.
Suarez-Moreno ZR, Caballero-Mellado J, Coutinho BG, Mendonca-Previato L, James EK, Venturi V. 2012. Common features of environmental and potentially beneficial plant-associated burkholderia. Microb Ecol 63:249-66.
Mattiuzzo, M., Bertani, I., Ferluga, S., Cabrio, L., Bigirimana, J., Guarnaccia, C., Pongor, S., Maraite, H., Venturi, V. 2011. The plant pathogen Pseudomonas fuscovaginae contains two conserved quorum sensing systems involved in virulence and negatively regulated by RsaL and the novel regulator RsaM. Environ Microbiol 13, 145-162 PubMed link
Hosni T, Moretti C, Devescovi G, Suarez-Moreno ZR, Fatmi MB, Guarnaccia C, Pongor S, Onofri A, Buonaurio R, Venturi V. 2011. Sharing of quorum-sensing signals and role of interspecies communities in a bacterial plant disease. ISME J 5:1857-70.
Subramoni S, Venturi V. 2009. LuxR-family ‘solos’: bachelor sensors/regulators of signalling molecules. Microbiology 155:1377-85.
Ferluga S, Venturi V. 2009. OryR is a LuxR-family protein involved in interkingdom signaling between pathogenic Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and rice. J Bacteriol 191:890-7.