Location: Application Technology Research
Project Number: 5082-30500-001-074-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 15, 2025
End Date: Sep 14, 2028
Objective:
This study will develop methods for the delivery of plant-derived proteins to reduce the impact of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum on crops. Eventually, we will compare the effectiveness of SIGS on sunflower, edible snapbean, or dry beans for which transgenic approaches such as host-induced gene silencing are not feasible.
Approach:
Overexpression of genes encoding putative antifungal activities in plants or external application provide opportunities and flexibilities to researchers for adopting genetic engineering strategies to expedite translational genomics towards plant biotic resistance enhancement. The goal of this project is to screen a library of novel small proteins that exhibit antifungal activities against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and deploy them as biological pesticides or through transgenic approaches. To achieve this, we propose to: 1) Compare the antifungal activities of selected plant-derived molecules through transient expression in plants; 2) Establish the plant gene expression system for the expression of promising proteins; and 3) Test the efficacy of the expressed proteins as sprays in the greenhouse and evaluate the gene-stacking or pyramiding in transgenic plants for resistance.