Sequencing the Fusarium viguliforme genome;
Ahmad Fakhoury ( Southern Illinois University), Burton Bluhm ( University of Arkansas), Madan Bhattacharyya ( Iowa State University), Xiaoqiu Huang ( Iowa State University) ($36559). The Project Manager's email is mbhattac@iastate.edu.
Key Words: Fusarium virguliforme
F. virguliforme, formerly known as F. solani f. sp glycines is a highly destructive pathogen. It causes sudden death syndrome (SDS) in soybean. The estimated average annual soybean yield suppression from this pathogen is valued at $150 million (Wrather and Koenning [2006] J. Nematology 38:173-180). Although a major emphasis of soybean breeding programs has been to look for major genes that confer SDS resistance, the outcome has not been as successful as for other diseases such as Phytophthora rot and stem rot, and soybean cyst nematode (SCN) diseases. Therefore, it is becoming urgent to create soybean germplasm carrying novel, broad-spectrum SDS resistance developed through biotechnological approaches. To facilitate development of such germplasm, we must have a better understanding of the mechanism used by F. virguliforme in causing SDS.
The best way to identify genetic mechanisms is to eliminate one gene at a time and ask what happens if a particular gene is deleted or mutated. Homologous recombination, a routine technique in fungi including Fusarium spp., can be used to selectively remove or knock out individual genes, but it relies on availability of gene sequences. The goal of this project is to uncover the F. virguliforme genome sequence and made it available to the research community.
This project is funded by Iowa Soybean Association
Website is funded by the soybean checkoff
