Location: National Peanut Research Laboratory
Project Number: 6044-21000-006-001-T
Project Type: Trust Fund Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 31, 2018
End Date: Oct 30, 2024
Objective:
1. Identify/obtain sources of peanut smut resistance.
2. Incorporate resistance into United States high-oleic cultivated peanut.
3. Develop and test new breeding lines for resistance, yield, seed quality and Oleic/Linoleic traits.
4. Develop molecular markers for smut resistance.
5. Develop understanding of basic pathogen biology and systematics.
6. Develop diagnostic assay for the detection of the smut pathogen in peanut lots and soil.
Approach:
Since Thecaphora (T.) frezzii is not in the United States (U.S.) and other fungal spores (Aspergillus species) are common in U.S. peanut soil, methodology to isolate Aspergillus from soil, seed and pod should work well for T. frezzii. To develop a positive genetic source, ‘sythethic’ ribosome RNA genes such as internal transcribed spacers 2 and 4 (ITS2 and ITS4) will be constructed and spiked into other common fungal species (eg Aspergillus species) to evaluate sensitivity for polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Likewise, similar strategy applies to development of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Once this initial development is completed, testing has to be done with real T. frezzii samples which can be done at quarantine site (such as Ft. Detrick) and eventually at the source (Argentina).
