Location: Mycology and Nematology Genetic Diversity and Biology Laboratory
Project Number: 8042-22000-323-001-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Jul 1, 2022
End Date: Dec 31, 2023
Objective:
The primary purpose of this agreement is to support USDA, APHIS Enhanced Pest ID and Technology. The specific objective for this agreement is to work with Ceratocystis manginecans, causal agent of mango sudden decline. The activities proposed will enhance the accurate identification and detection of this high-risk fungal pathogen by APHIS-PPQ, to enhance abilities to prevent its introduction into the U.S. and enable the rapid identification of potentially infected material intercepted at the ports.
Approach:
ARS plans to look for candidate unique DNA regions or genes from whole genome sequences of Ceratocystis manginecans to be used for the development species-specific identification methods. To achieve this, this work proposes the generation of genome sequences of target and non-target taxa cultures obtained from public repositories; comparative genomics for the identification of genomic regions suitable for identification and TaqMan PCR design, optimization, and preliminary validation.
