No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 1999. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Science. Bibliography: leaves 190-217.

No description available.

Brassica napus (L.) contributes over $19 billion dollars each year to the Canadian economy. However, yields are constantly threatened by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib) de Bary, the fungus responsible for Sclerotinia stem rot. To date, there are no global RNA profiling data or gene regulatory analyses of plant tissues directly at the main site of foliar infection in the B. napus-S. sclerotiorum pathosystem. Using RNA sequencing and a gene regulatory analysis, I discovered putative transcriptional regulators of biological processes associated with the tolerant phenotype of B. napus cv. Zhougyou821 including subcellular localization of proteins, pathogen detection, and redox homeostasis. Functional characterization of Arabidopsis mutants identified a number of genes that contribute directly to plant defense to S. sclerotiorum. Together this research amounts to the expansion of our understanding of the B. napus-S. sclerotiorum pathosystem and a valuable resource to help protect B. napus crops from virulent pathogens such as S. sclerotiorum. / October 2016

Thesis (doctoral)--Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

The research presented in this dissertation involves the study of two systems in order to analyze and develop resistance in plants to pathogens. The first study considered the interaction between lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and Plasmopara lactucae-radicis, a recently described casual agent of downy mildew. This unique fungus is the only known casual agent of downy mildew that is restricted to the roots of its host. Thirty-eight lettuce cultivars were screened for resistance to P. lactucae-radicis. Two-wk-old lettuce plants grown hydroponically were challenged with this fungus and evaluated 2 and 3 wk after inoculation for resistance. Root necrosis and production of sporangia on roots was considered a susceptible reaction. Five cultivars were determined to be resistant to this fungus. Resistant cultivars, however, were colonized by the fungus but did not support the production of sporangia on roots. Data from F2 and F3 progenies demonstrated that resistance was conferred by a single recessive allele (plr). Fungal infection of susceptible plants resulted in significant decreases in fresh root and shoot weights and leaf number compared to decreases associated with infection of resistant plants. RFLP probes have been identified for mapping the plr gene. The second topic of this dissertation dealt with the development of transgenic tobacco plants that express a chimeric gene that consisted of the 35-S promoter and the coat protein gene of Beet Curly Top Virus, a member of the geminivirus group. Expression of viral coat protein genes in plants has resulted in resistance to the virus from which the coat protein gene was obtained. This type of "coat protein-mediated" resistance has not been demonstrated for any geminivirus. Tobacco leaf discs were inoculated with an Agrobacterium tumefaciens line that contained the chimeric gene. Three transgenic lines were determined by Southern and Northern analysis, and ELISA, to express the chimeric gene and produce coat protein. Trials to determine the resistance of these plant lines to BCTV are pending federal approval.

Septoria nodorum blotch is a disease of wheat caused by the necrotrophic fungus Parastagonospora nodorum. In the wheat-P. nodorum pathosystem, recognition of pathogen-produced necrotrophic effectors (NEs) by dominant host genes leads to host cell death, which allows the pathogen to gain nutrients and proliferate. To date, nine host gene-NE interactions have been reported in this pathosystem. Among them, the Snn2-SnTox2 interaction has shown to be important in both seedling and adult plant susceptibility. A saturated genetic linkage map was developed using a segregating population of recombinant inbred lines and a high-resolution map was then developed using F2 plants derived from a cross between the SnTox2-insensitive wheat line BR34 and the SnTox2-sensitive line BG301. Over 10,000 gametes were screened for high-resolution mapping and the Snn2 gene was delineated to a genetic interval of 0.10 cM that corresponds to a physical segment of approximately 0.53 Mb on the short arm of wheat chromosome 2D. A total of 27 predicted genes present in this region and thirteen of them were identified as strong candidates. Seven EMS-induced Snn2-insensitive mutants were generated for gene validation. Results of this study provide the foundation for cloning of Snn2. The host sensitivity gene Snn1, which confers sensitivity to SnTox1, was previously cloned. Here, allelic diversity of Snn1 was studied to identify causal polymorphisms, and to develop markers useful for marker assisted selection (MAS). Twenty-seven coding sequence haplotypes that correspond to 21 amino acid haplotypes were identified. Three SNPs were identified as the possible mutations that caused the insensitive allele in wild emmer to become the sensitive allele in domesticated wheat. In addition, four SNPs that changed the sensitive allele into insensitive alleles were identified. SNP-based markers that could detect three of those SNPs were developed. Results of this study help to increase our knowledge in wheat-NE interactions and host sensitivity gene evolution. / USDA – Agricultural Research Service / National Institute of Food and Agriculture