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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Frederick, Maryland » Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #405687
Research Project: Diagnostics and Biological Approaches for Management of Emerging Oomycete Plant Pathogens

Location: Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research

Title: Characterization of variation in virulence-related genes of Phytophthora palmivora associated with cacao

Author
item HERRERA, CORZO - University Of Florida
item GITTO, ANDREW - University Of Florida
item Puig, Alina
item BRAWNER, JEREMY - University Of Florida
item GOSS, ERICA - University Of Florida
item Bailey, Bryan
item SUAREZ, JAIMES - Colombian Corporation Of Agriculture And Livestock- Agrosavia

Submitted to: American Phytopathological Society Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2023
Publication Date: 12/29/2023
Citation: Herrera, C., Gitto, A., Puig, A.S., Brawner, J., Goss, E.M., Bailey, B.A., Suarez, J.Y. 2023. Characterization of variation in virulence-related genes of Phytophthora palmivora associated with cacao. American Phytopathological Society Annual Meeting. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-113-11-S3.1 .
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-113-11-S3.1 

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Phytophthora palmivora is a pathogen with worldwide distribution that affects several tropical and subtropical hosts, including economically important crops such as papaya, durian, coconut, rubber, oil palm, and cacao. Understanding the diversity and evolution of this pathogen is essential for effective disease management strategies. The ability of P. palmivora to infect a wide range of plants suggests a broad set of strategies to overcome the host defenses, making the characterization of virulence/pathogenicity factors associated with this organism of great interest. As a first step towards describing these factors across the species, a collection of 57 cacao isolates from America, were sequenced to determine the composition of effector genes and other putative virulence factors. A targeted sequence capture method, with probes designed from a whole genome reference sequence, was used to obtain high coverage sequencing of effectors. With these data, we examined variation in effector genes in isolates collected from cacao within and among geographic regions, elucidating profiles associated with subregions.