Powdery mildew resistance in strawberry fruit

Powdery mildew is rated the most important strawberry disease for UK strawberry growers; an untreated epidemic of powdery mildew on strawberry leads to severe yield loss and unmarketable fruit. Powdery mildew is currently controlled by regular applications of fungicide. However, the evolution of fungicide resistance to DMI compounds has exacerbated the already heightened concerns over the loss of effective fungicides. Current pre-breeding work at NIAB EMR has laid the groundwork to alleviate this problem through the identification of multiple genetic markers associated with powdery mildew resistance in strawberry foliage.

Objectives
This studentship will focus on disease symptom progression in the strawberry fruits themselves. Through the utilisation of advanced imaging technologies in the assessment of pathogenicity assays we will be able to screen strawberry fruits for resistance to powdery mildew. The phenotyping data will feed into a genome wide association study, a powerful analysis that is able to identify markers linked to resistance genes present across all strawberry cultivars. Furthermore, by applying the imaging techniques, the project will determine whether powdery mildew resistance is tissue specific and if each tissue (i.e. leaf, calyx and strawberry) contains its own suite of genes responsible for conferring resistance.