Location: Sunflower and Plant Biology Research
Project Number: 3060-21220-034-011-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 1, 2020
End Date: Dec 31, 2022
Objective:
The objectives of this proposal are to: 1) Characterize white mold (WM) resistance of new dry and snap bean lines using multi-site WM disease nurseries and greenhouse resistance using S. sclerotiorum isolates with aggressiveness best able to differentiate lines, 2) Identify and characterize genome-wide pathogenicity-related genes in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum isolates with differences in virulence/aggressiveness on dry bean, and 3) Characterize genetic variability of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum isolates from multiple hosts/regions and identify genetic variability associated with traits of fungicide resistance and pathogenicity.
Approach:
This proposal builds upon previously established greenhouse and field multi-site white mold dry/snap bean line trials, with test sites located in Colorado, Oregon, Michigan, North Dakota, Nebraska, Quebec, Washington, and Wisconsin. A major outcome of the proposed work is to expeditiously discover enhanced plant varieties with greater resistance when evaluated across multiple sites in the production region.
Complementary characterization of pathogen variability across the production region is necessary to help realize the potential of new cultivar development, sustain economic methods of crop protection using fungicides, and improve cultural techniques based on the epidemiology of the pathogen. The proposed work will use a whole-genome sequencing and amplicon sequencing approaches to address previously unanswered questions about population variability that is relevant to pathogenicity, fungicide resistance, and disease epidemiology.
