THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES THE PRIORITY AREA 'COTTON LEAF ROLL DWARF VIRUS (CLRDV), CAUSES A DEVASTATING DISEASE OF COTTON IN AFRICA, ASIA, AND SOUTH AMERICA, THAT HAS SPREAD RAPIDLY IN THE U.S. TO PROVIDE SUPPORT TO BREEDING PROGRAMS DEVELOPING RESISTANCE TO CLRDV AS A SOLUTION'. CLRDV CAUSES A DISEASE OF COTTON IN AFRICA, ASIA, AND SOUTH AMERICA ASSOCIATED WITH REDUCED YIELDS. FOUR DIFFERENT CLRDV VARIANTS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED WORLDWIDE, TWO EACH IN SOUTH AMERICA AND THE U.S., NOW SPANNING TWELVE COTTON-GROWING STATES. ADDITIONAL UNCHARACTERIZED VARIANTS ARE REPORTED IN ASIA. CHEMICAL CONTROL OF THE COTTON APHID VECTOR IS DIFFICULT AND DISRUPTIVE TO INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF OTHER MAJOR INSECT PESTS OF COTTON. THE GOAL OF THIS 'METHODS DEVELOPMENT-SURVEILLANCE' PROJECT IS TO AMASS VIRAL METAGENOMIC INFORMATION TO INFORM THE DEVELOPMENT OF VIRUS RESISTANCE IN COTTON AS A SOLUTION TO COMBAT CLRDV AND OTHER EXOTIC VIRUSES OF COTTON IN THE U.S. THE PROJECT WILL ADAPT AN EXISTING CAPTURE-SEQ-PHYLOGENOMIC PIPELINE DEVELOPED FOR EXOTIC BEGOMOVIRAL SURVEILLANCE, TO METAGENOMIC-PHYLODYNAMIC ANALYSES E.G. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES ONGOING IN CLRDV EPIDEMIC VARIANTS. DATA WILL BE MINED TO DETERMINE EXTENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF CLRDV METAGENOMIC VARIABILITY IN SENTINEL PLOT SAMPLES FROM TWELVE COTTON-GROWING STATES. THIS THREE-YEAR ACTIVITY IS COORDINATED BY THE NATIONAL PREDICTIVE MODELING TOOL INITIATIVE. THE DELIVERABLES ARE A COMPLETE WORKFLOW AND PIPELINE ENABLING THE AMASSING AND ANALYSES OF VIRAL METAGENOMIC SPATIO-TEMPORAL DATA THAT WILL REVEAL INSIGHTS INTO THE EPIDEMIOLOGY, VIRUS EVOLUTION, AND VIRULENCE/SUSCEPTIBILITY OF STRATEGICALLY SELECTED 'COTTON GENOTYPES AND THEIR LARGER ENVIRONMENT' TO ADVANCE EFFORTS TO DEVELOP DISEASE RESISTANCE.