Location: Temperate Tree Fruit and Vegetable Research
Project Number: 2092-22430-003-070-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 15, 2025
End Date: Sep 30, 2026
Objective:
Optimize the export and delivery of therapeutic molecules from symbiont galls to cure diseases of fruit trees.
Approach:
1) New tools will be developed and tested on cherry to reduce vascular damage to fruit trees during initial inoculation of symbiont.
2) Symbiont constructs will be modified with export enhancement genes and tested in cherry.
3) Export of therapeutic molecules from symbiont galls will be tested directly by measuring movement of plant dyes, and indirectly by measuring impact on pathogen titers in various distances from the galls.