PLANT DISEASES CAUSE FARMERS SIGNIFICANT YIELD REDUCTIONS EACH YEAR. THE FIRST STEP IN COMBATTING PLANT DISEASES AND THEIR IMPACTS IS ACCURATE AND SWIFT DISEASE DIAGNOSTICS. FOR YEARS, WHOLE-GENOME SEQUENCING (WGS) AND METAGENOME SEQUENCING (MGS),TECHNOLOGIES HAVE BEEN TRANSFORMING HUMAN AND ANIMAL CLINICS, ALLOWING FOR SPECIFIC, FAST, AND INEXPENSIVE DIAGNOSTICS. HOWEVER, MOST PLANT CLINICS HAVE NOT YET ADOPTED WGS AND MGS INTO THEIR USUAL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES. OUR PRELIMINARY DATA SHOW THAT WGS AND MGS CAN BE USED TO HELP IDENTIFY A SPECIFIC DISEASE-CAUSING PATHOGEN (GENUS, SPECIES, STRAIN TYPE) FROM INFECTED PLANT TISSUE IN LESS THAN TWO DAYS. INSTEAD OF ONLY RELYING ON SEVERAL GENES TO IDENTIFY A PATHOGEN LIKE TRADITIONAL DIAGNOSTIC METHODS, WGS AND MGS ALLOW DIAGNOSTICIANS TO USE GENOMIC SEQUENCES TO DEFINE THE MICROORGANISMS PRESENT THAT MAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR SYMPTOMS. THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP WGS AND MGS-BASED PLANT DISEASE DIAGNOSTICS, INCORPORATING FARMERS, EXTENSION AGENTS, AND DIAGNOSTICIANS IN THE PROCESS, WITH THESE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: 1)DEVELOP A WGS AND MGS PLATFORM FOR TOMATO AND PEPPER PATHOGEN DIAGNOSTICS AND 2) COLLABORATE WITH OHIO VEGETABLE FARMERS TO FIELD TEST WGS AND MGS FOR DIAGNOSTICS.THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH PROJECT IS TO PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT AND FIELD TESTING OF WGS AND MGS FOR DIAGNOSTICS OF OHIO PLANT PATHOGENS,WHICH WILL PROVIDE A FOUNDATION FOR NATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT.