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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #122764
Title: TOWARD IMPROVED CERCOSPORA LEAFSPOT DISEASE RESISTANCE

Author
item Kuykendall, Larry

Submitted to: Annual Beet Sugar Development Foundation Research Report
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Bioengineering of disease resistant transgenic plants has been a subject of intense research for about 10-15 years now. While some progress is being made, solutions to real agronomic problems such as Cercospora leafspot seem far away still. We tested two somewhat promising transgenic sugarbeet genotypes and found them to unfortunately be more susceptable than their nontransformed parent. Other research has identified biofungicide genes in newly discovered species of Pseudomonas that have excellent potential for conferring resistance.

Technical Abstract: The bioengineering of sugarbeet for disease resistance is an exceedingly complex problem for researchers. Since transformation has been inefficient scientists must carefully choose the novel genes to be introduced. Biofungicide genes from Pseudomonas now appear to be good candidates.