UC Davis Scientists Investigate Grape Powdery Mildew Genome

One of the major diseases affecting the quality and yield of grapes is powdery mildew caused by the pathogen, Erysiphe necator. This has been controlled through the use of chemical fungicides, however, the fungus easily gains fungicide resistance adding up to its difficulty to manage. University of California Davis researchers are studying fungicide resistance, particularly on E. necator genome and the mode of its resistance against  fungicide.

The UC Davis researchers discovered that the E. necator genome is very large and repetitive with frequent structural variations found between isolates and copy number variations (CNV). The CNV gives the fungus the ability to easily and rapidly evolve to be adaptive against fungicides. This was done by increasing the quantitative protection in a gene dosage dependent manner. These findings will be helpful in managing the disease and in the development of genetically resistant grape varieties against powdery mildew.

Full details of the study can be read at BMC Genomics and UC Davis.