2009 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) Workshops will be held at regional and national Allium meetings. We will develop a mechanical transmission protocol or Iris Yellow Spot Virus and validate sources of resistance or tolerance identified in field evaluations. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) Sources of IYSV resistance or tolerance will be validated in controlled environments by mechanical inoculations. Deliver validated germplasms to private and public sector breeder. Develop workshops for public and private-sector researchers, students, and regional grower and consumer groups for onion to illustrate the usefulness of genomics to solve high-priority research goals. 3.Progress Report To improve the transmissibility of Iris yellow spot virus (IYSV) by manual means, a new set of indicator hosts were identified which should be useful as a source of inoculum for infecting onion for the purpose of developing a mechanical screening procedure to evaluate the response of onion cultivars and breeding lines to infection by IYSV. Findings are accepted for publication in the referred journal, Plant Health Progress, published by the American Phytopathological Society. (2009. Symptomatology of Iris yellow spot virus in selected indicator hosts. Plant Health Progress. In press). Various mechanical inoculation protocols to improve the transmission efficiency of IYSV to healthy onion are in progress. Onion thrips (Thrips tabaci) colony is established so that screening by viruliferous thrips could also be attempted. An Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for determining the viruliferous thrips for this purpose. Project is monitored by conference calls every two months.