Shaobin Zhong, Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences, UH-CTAHR
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The koa wilt disease causes a serious problem in koa plantations, but its origin, distribution and etiology are still not well understood. Lack of information about the pathogen and effective methods for pathogen identification and characterization prevents the disease management. This project develops molecular tools for rapid identification of the Fusarium species or forms causing the wilt disease in koa plants and determines the genetic variation of the pathogen. Development of specific DNA primers will allow rapid and reliable identification of the presence of the particular causal organism (i.e., which species and which strain within a species) using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology.
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Contact
Dr. Shaobin Zhong (zhongs@hawaii.edu)
Phone: 808-956-5305
Fax: 808-956-2832
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FUNDING has been provided to CTAHR for this research from the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service Project HAW01910-06G. |
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OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this proposal are to
1) develop a DNA-based system for rapid detection and identification of F. oxysporum isolates causing koa wilt disease in Hawaii; and
2) determine genetic variation of F. oxysporum f. sp. koae by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis and vegetative compatibility group test.
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APPROACH
1) PCR will be used to amplify DNA sequences in the intergenic spacer (IGS) region of the rDNA gene and the transcription elongation factor gene (EF) from F. oxysporum isolates causing koa wilt disease in Hawaii.
2) DNA sequence comparison will be made to identify unique sequences for pathogen identification.
3) AFLP marker analysis and vegetative compatibility group tests will be used to characterize pathogenic Fusarium isolates isolated from koa plants.
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PROGRESS
New Project: none reported to date. |
IMPACT
New Project: none reported to date. |
