Microbial Genome Sequencing: Genome Sequence of Phytophthora Sojae

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Drs. Brett Tyler and Bruno Sobral of Virginia Tech., in collaboration with Dr Jeff Boore of the DOE Joint Genome Institute have been awarded a grant to create a rough draft of the entire DNA sequence of the soybean pathogen Phytophthora sojae. Plant pathogens from the genus Phytophthora cause destructive diseases of an enormous variety of crop plant species as well as forests and native ecosystems. The potato pathogen P. infestans was responsible for the Irish potato famine, and is still a destructive pathogen of concern for biosecurity. Superficially, Phytophthora pathogens resemble fungi, but they in fact belong to a group called Stramenopiles that are most closely related to algae such as kelp and diatoms. Hence conventional fungus control measures often fail against these pathogens. P. sojae has been chosen for the project because it is relatively easy to genetically manipulate. This project will be tightly integrated with a project funded by the DOE to determine a draft sequence of the oak sudden death pathogen P. ramorum.The broader impact of the project will include direct training of postdoctoral fellows and undergraduates, and visiting researchers from minority institutions in a multidisciplinary, team-oriented environment that emphasizes development of the communications skills required for synergistic interactions between experimental and computational biology. The community annotation platform will provide a multi-disciplinary training environment for researchers world-wide. This research will advance the microbial genome research infrastructure by developing and making publicly available, the first in-depth genomic resource for a pathogen from the Stramenopile kingdom. This resource will provide a basis for new control measures against a group of pathogens which have major impacts on global ecosystems, food security and agricultural production. This is a Microbial Genome Sequencing Award funded through a collaborative program between the National Science Foundation and the Department of Agriculture.