Analysis of Viral and Bacterial and Expressed Transposable Element Sequences in Ensete ventricosum and Musa acuminata

Maitham Al-Jalali is a researcher in plant genomics and bioinformatics with an academic background in Iraq and the UK. He is now a consultant in genomics at the Biotechnology Centre of Borj-Cédria (CBBC), Tunisia. His doctoral research in the Department of Genetics and Genome Biology at the University of Leicester examined viral, fungal, bacterial and expressed transposable element sequences in Ensete ventricosum and Musa acuminata. He holds a master’s degree in biotechnology from the University of Baghdad, where he studied the detection of Erwinia species in potato using conventional and PCR methods. His research interests include plant pathogen detection, endogenous viral elements, repetitive DNA and comparative genomics. His current work focuses on pathogen-related sequences in tomato, cucumber and watermelon, including investigations of Fusarium oxysporum and tomato brown rugose fruit virus. He combines bioinformatics and genome analysis with molecular approaches to study plant pathogens and their relationships with host plants.