Project Details

Description

Phoma stem canker is an economically important disease of oilseed rape in the UK. This disease can cause annual yield losses of winter oilseed rape worth > £80M, despite the use of fungicides. It is caused by two fungal pathogens Leptosphaeria maculans (Lm) and L. biglobosa (Lb). Despite the efforts to control diseases using cultivar resistance and fungicides, the average UK farm yield has not increased over the last 10 years. There is a need to improve disease control to increase yield, which will make oilseed rape a more profitable crop for the UK’s farmers. Although phoma stem canker is caused by Lm and Lb, Lm is more damaging than Lb since Lm is often associated with damaging stem base cankers, whereas Lb is generally associated with superficial upper stem lesions. It is known that Lm can produce a secondary metabolite Sirodesmin PL which plays a role to enhance its infection, whereas Lb does not produce Sitodesmin PL. Results of our recent experiments showed that Lb can inhibit production of Sirodesmin by Lm, resulting in reduced infection by Lm. This opens a new opportunity to investigate new methods for managing phoma stem canker.This PhD project aims to understand mechanisms of interactions between Lm and Lb for improving control of phoma stem canker on winter oilseed rape. To achieve the aim, there are four related objectives. (1). To investigate interactions between Lm and Lb during phoma leaf spot and phoma stem canker development. Plants will be inoculated with Lm or Lb or both in controlled environment experiments and field experiments. The effects of Lb on severity of phoma leaf spot and phoma stem canker caused by Lm will be assessed The amounts of Lm and Lb DNA in each of the inoculation treatments will also be assessed by species-specific qPCR. (2). To investigate effects of Lb on the production of the phytotoxin Sirodesmin PL by Lm. Leaves of the two cultivars will be inoculated with Lm or Lb or both; inoculated leaves will be sampled at different time points for extraction of secondary metabolites and composition analysis. Leaves will also be sampled for RNA extraction and analysis of gene expression related to Sirodesmin production.(3). To investigate effects of Lb on function of Lm effectors. Successful infection of oilseed rape by Lm relies on its effectors being able to avoid recognition by host resistance receptors. The effects of Lb on function of Lm effectors will be investigated using the Rlm7 (host resistance gene) and AvrLm7 (pathogen effector gene) interactions. (4). To transfer new knowledge into new disease control strategy. New knowledge obtained from this project about interactions between the two phoma stem canker causal pathogens will be used to improve control strategies and delivered to growers through Hutchinsons and ADAS. With limited available effective fungicides and observed breakdown of host resistance against Lm, investigation of the possibility of using Lb as biocontrol of Lm will not only reduce the use fungicides to protect the environment but also improve the profit margin to benefit farmers. Furthermore, Lb has no negative environment impact; it is potentially a sustainable method for control of phoma stem canker.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/09/2131/08/24

Keywords

  • Food, Global Economy

Fingerprint

Explore the research topics touched on by this project. These labels are generated based on the underlying awards/grants. Together they form a unique fingerprint.