Location: Crop Improvement and Protection Research
Project Number: 2038-22000-019-037-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2022
End Date: Sep 14, 2025
Objective:
A) Comparative and population genomics of Macrophomina phaseolina and Neopestalotiopsis spp. isolates that are pathogenic to strawberry.
B) Elucidate the environmental conditions that are critical for disease development by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. fragariae, Macrophomina phaseolina, and Neopestalotiopsis spp.
Approach:
A) Conduct whole genome sequencing of diverse pathogenic isolates. Analyze high throughput sequence data for single nucleotide variants to identify phylogenetic relationships between isolates. Assemble and compare whole genomes to identify regions that could be related to virulence on strawberry or horizontally transferred from other organisms.
B) Test a range of temperatures under field and growth chamber conditions to identify the optimal conditions for disease development by each pathogen. For field trials, we will use hoop houses to augment temperatures at specific times of the year.
