Molecular detection of cranberry fruit rot fungi and fungicide resistance management

世界范围内的小红莓经济由14个国家开展。全球约30%的产量来自加拿大，魁北克和不列颠哥伦比亚省占产量的95%。对这一生产最不利的疾病是由12种真菌引起的蔓越莓腐烂病(CFR)。这种疾病综合体可造成高达100%的产量损失，导致严重的经济损失。杀菌剂的应用主要用于疾病控制。由于这些方法对生物多样性以及公众和环境健康的负面影响，需要采取更经济和环境友好的方法来控制CFR的影响。该项目将首次准确、最新和大规模地描述在加拿大所有主要种植区引起蔓越莓生产CFR的真菌种类的组成、分布、进化和程度，因为它也与美国的接壤的州有关。这一结果将根据小红莓田间发生的病害发展模式，预测气候变化引起的CFR动态变化趋势。就在几个月前，如此大规模的方法还是不可想象的，直到我们团队开发出一种创新的分子测试，以同时识别导致CFR的所有12种真菌。这一突破为合作伙伴提供了一个前所未有的窗口，了解蔓越莓生产中最具限制性的因素之一，以及制定有针对性的管理战略以实施综合控制方法的工具。

The worldwide cranberry economy is carried out by 14 countries. Approximately 30% of the global production comes from Canada alone where Québec and British Columbia represent 95% of the production. The most prejudicial disease to this production is cranberry fruit rot (CFR) caused by a complex of 12 fungal species. This disease complex can cause as much as 100% loss of production, leading to severe economic losses. Applications of fungicides are mainly used for disease control. Owing to the negative effects of these methods on biodiversity and public and environmental health, more economic and environmentally-friendly approaches are required to control the impact of CFR. This project will provide the first precise, up-to-date and large-scale description of the composition, distribution, evolution and extent of fungal species causing CFR in cranberry production in all major growing areas in Canada as it also relates to bordering states in the USA. The results will give predictive trends of CFR dynamic owing to climate change based on development disease patterns occurring in cranberry fields. An approach of this magnitude was inconceivable as recently as a few months ago until the development of an innovative molecular test by our team to simultaneously identify all 12 fungi causing CFR. This breakthrough offers partners an unprecedented window into one of the most limiting factors of cranberry production along with tools to develop targeted management strategies to implement integrated control approaches.