Powdery mildew resistance in strawberry fruit

白粉病被认为是英国草莓种植者最重要的草莓病害；草莓上白粉病的流行如果没有得到治疗，就会导致严重的产量损失和水果滞销。白粉病目前是通过定期使用杀菌剂来控制的。然而，杀菌剂对DMI化合物的抗药性的进化加剧了人们对有效杀菌剂损失的高度关注。NIAB EMR目前的前期育种工作已经通过鉴定草莓叶片中与白粉病抗性相关的多个遗传标记，为缓解这一问题奠定了基础。目的本课程将重点研究草莓果实本身的疾病症状进展。通过利用先进的成像技术来评估致病性分析，我们将能够筛选草莓水果对白粉病的抗性。表型数据将提供给全基因组关联研究，这是一项强大的分析，能够识别与所有草莓品种存在的抗性基因相关的标记。此外，通过应用成像技术，该项目将确定白粉病抗性是否是组织特有的，以及每个组织(即叶、花萼和草莓)是否包含自己的一套负责赋予白粉病抗性的基因。

Powdery mildew is rated the most important strawberry disease for UK strawberry growers; an untreated epidemic of powdery mildew on strawberry leads to severe yield loss and unmarketable fruit. Powdery mildew is currently controlled by regular applications of fungicide. However, the evolution of fungicide resistance to DMI compounds has exacerbated the already heightened concerns over the loss of effective fungicides. Current pre-breeding work at NIAB EMR has laid the groundwork to alleviate this problem through the identification of multiple genetic markers associated with powdery mildew resistance in strawberry foliage. ObjectivesThis studentship will focus on disease symptom progression in the strawberry fruits themselves. Through the utilisation of advanced imaging technologies in the assessment of pathogenicity assays we will be able to screen strawberry fruits for resistance to powdery mildew. The phenotyping data will feed into a genome wide association study, a powerful analysis that is able to identify markers linked to resistance genes present across all strawberry cultivars. Furthermore, by applying the imaging techniques, the project will determine whether powdery mildew resistance is tissue specific and if each tissue (i.e. leaf, calyx and strawberry) contains its own suite of genes responsible for conferring resistance.