** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** FUSARIUM ROOT DISEASE IS A CONCERN TO CONIFER NURSERIES IN A TIME OF INCREASING CLIMATE VARIABILITY, WILDFIRE RISK, AND DROUGHT OCCURRING THROUGHOUT THE WEST. FOREST ECOSYSTEM RECOVERY RELIES HEAVILY ON NURSERY STOCK PLANTINGS. MULTIPLE FUSARIUM SPP. CAUSE SIMILAR SYMPTOMS AND DISEASE SEVERITY ON THE SAME HOSTS. SOME SPECIES HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED PREVIOUSLY AS BEING MORE WELL ADAPTED TO INCREASING TEMPERATURES THAN OTHERS. THIS HAS NOT BEEN WELL STUDIED IN THIS SYSTEM, AND UNDERSTANDING THE UNDERLYING MECHANISMS USED BY THESE WARMER ADAPTED SPECIES WOULD ALLOW FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES TO LIMIT THE LOSSES CAUSED BY THE SPREAD OF THESE PATHOGENS ACROSS THE U.S.A. THIS PROJECT WOULD UTILIZE A MULTI-OMICS APPROACH TO PROVIDE A MORE COMPLETE PICTURE OF HOW THESE PATHOGENS ARE CAUSING DISEASE TO CONIFER SEEDLINGS. BASED ON PRELIMINARY RESULTS COMPARING THE GENOME AND METABOLOMES OF TWO FUSARIUM SPP. PATHOGENIC TO CONIFER SPECIES, F. COMMUNE COLLECTED FROM THE PNW AND F. PROLIFERATUM COLLECTED FROM THE SW, WE WERE ABLE TO DETECT DIFFERENCES IN BOTH THE PREDICTED TRANSCRIPTOME AND PROTEOME AS WELL AS THE METABOLOME OF EACH SPECIES. TO FURTHER IDENTIFY WHICH GENES ARE TEMPERATURE ADAPTED, WE WILL TEST THE GENOME AND TRANSCRIPTOME OF MULTIPLE FUSARIUM SPP. COLLECTED FROM THE PNW, SW, AND SE UNDER A SPECTRUM OF WARMER TEMPERATURES (25, 30, AND 35°C) TO IDENTIFY DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED GENES IN VITRO AND IN VIVO. THESE TEMPERATURE ADAPTED VIRULENCE GENES WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP PUTATIVE DIAGNOSTIC PRIMERS FOR TEMPERATURE ADAPTED FUSARIUM PATHOGENS.

Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO

Investigators