Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/R007608/1
Using comparative genomics to understand and predict the epidemiology, dispersal and evolution of R. solanacearum in the UK river system
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Dr V Friman, University of York, Biology
- Grant held at:
- University of York, Biology
- Science Area:
- Freshwater
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Freshwater
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Crop protection
- Disease diagnosis (crops)
- Evolutionary ecology
- Molecular genetics
- Population Genetics/Evolution
- Plant pathogens
- Microbiology
- Genetic evolution
- Environmental Genomics
- Interaction with organisms
- Bacterial diseases (plants)
- Abstract:
- Global human population is projected to reach 8.9 billion by 2050, which will create increasing demand for more efficient food production. One constrain for this is the insufficient control of plant pathogens and it has been estimated that around 10-20% of global food production is lost to plant diseases annually. While plant pathogens can be treated with pesticides,intensive use of these compounds has led to the emergence of resistant microbial pathogens, caused collateral damage to wildlife and had adverse effects on human health and the quality of the environment. Moreover, there are no currently approved pesticides for control of bacterial plant pathogens in the UK. Pathogen exclusion through improved diagnostics and monitoring could thus provide a simpler way to predict and prevent disease outbreaks in the first place. Bacterial wilt, caused by the soil-borne Gram-negative bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum, is one of the most important bacterial crop diseases. Ralstonia solanacearum has an unusually wide host range being capable of infecting more than 200 plant species including many economically important crops. For example, bacterial wilt of potato is estimated to affect 3.75 million acres in approximately 80 countries, with global damage estimates exceeding $950 million per year. In the UK,R. solanacearum causes potato brown rot. Thus far, all UK outbreaks have been associated with flooding or irrigation of potato crops from contaminated water sources. Ralstonia solanacearum can persist in UK rivers throughout the year by overwintering in the roots of its secondary host plant, Woody Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) - a common perennial semi-aquatic weed inhabiting riverbanks. Currently, river waters are tested regularly to control the spread via irrigation (by Fera) and it is known that R. solanacearum densities peak in July-September when the water temperatures are high. Moreover, an epidemiological study based on variable-number tandem-repeats has shown that the pathogenic strains driving disease outbreaks are highly related to the environmental strains isolated from upstream of the potato fields. Together these findings suggest that environmental reservoirs play important roles in the pathogen outbreaks. However, it is still unclear how the R. solanacearum population has dispersed, expanded and evolved since the first disease outbreak in 1992. This project will use population genomics to understand the epidemiology, dispersal and evolution of R. solanacearum in the UK river system. We will generate and analyse genome sequences from a collection of time sampled pathogen isolates across the UK dating back to the first R. solanacearum outbreak in 1992. This analysis will provide a detailed quantitative description of the outbreak, including its geographic source and evolutionary patterns. Moreover, we will also explore differences in pathogen virulence and ask to what extent do the environmental isolates differ from the pathogenic isolates. The genomic and molecular data will finally be translated into a monitoring and diagnostic database, which will hopefully help to predict and control future outbreaks. The project is underpinned by the combination of plant pathogen ecology and evolution (Friman, York), monitoring and diagnostics (Elphinstone, Fera) and comparative population genomics (Jeffares, York). This combination of specialist expertise is essential requirement for the project and will ensure challenging and rewarding research environment for the PhD student covering basis in evolutionary disease ecology and diagnostics, genomics and bioinformatics. Project is within the NERC remit of societal challenges and will aim to build sustainable use of agricultural environment and resource and to improve resilience to environmental hazards such as pathogen outbreaks.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/R007608/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Industrial CASE
This training grant award has a total value of £89,520
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Fees | Total - Student Stipend | Total - RTSG |
|---|---|---|
| £17,480 | £61,042 | £11,000 |
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