Plant & Environmental
Biotechnology Laboratory

Loukia Kellari

Postdoctoral Researcher

Loukia graduated from the department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Thessaly. She proceeded with her MSc studies in “Applications of Molecular Biology – Genetics – Diagnostic Biomarkers” in the same department. Since February 2022, she has been a PhD student in the Plant and Environmental Biotechnology laboratory, under the supervision of Professor Kalliope Papadopoulou and Dr Athanasios Dalakouras. Her PhD thesis title is “Plant epigenome plasticity as a response to its colonization by a beneficial fungal endophyte”. Her PhD research explores how a beneficial fungal endophyte communicates with its host, shaping gene expression through transmission of small RNAs and epigenetic modifications. She has co-authored five publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Publications

Kellari, L. M., Papadopoulou, K. K., & Dalakouras, A. (2026). Cross-kingdom RNAi: A universal mechanism of inter-organismal communication with many unknowns. Journal of Experimental Botany, 77(6), 1582–1597. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/eraf543

Platis, I. K., Kellari, L. M., Natsiopoulos, D., Argyri, A., Eliopoulos, P., Papadopoulou, K. K., & Topalidou, E. (2026). Towards sustainable control of chestnut brown rot: An in vitro evaluation of conventional and biobased solutions. Fungal Biology, 130(1), 101712. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2025.101712

Kellari, L.M., Dalakouras, A., Tsiouri, O., Vletsos, P., Katsaouni, A., Uslu, V.V. and Papadopoulou, K.K. (2025), Cross-kingdom RNAi induced by a beneficial endophytic fungus to its host requires transitivity and amplification of silencing signals. Plant Biol J, 27: 504-514. https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.70026

Papadopoulou, K. Κ., Chatzinotas, A., Diaz-Otero, B. G., Brader, G., Karpouzas, D. G., Garces Ruiz, M., Alonso Prados, J. L., Declerck, S., Kellari, L. M., & Sessitsch, A. (2025). Benefits and challenges of upcoming microbial plant protection applications sustaining planetary health. iScience, 28(10), 113557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.113557

Dhakar, K., Kellari, L. M., Karas, P. A., Theodorakopoulos, A., Styllas, M. N., Papadopoulou, E. S., Karpouzas, D. G., Papadopoulou, K. K., & Vasileiadis, S. (2024). Microbiome analysis of the lithophytic resurrection plant Ramonda heldreichii, reveals root driven tight-rhizosphere vs elevation specific loose-rhizosphere communities. Rhizosphere, 32, 100969. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhisph.2024.100969

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