In July 2000, the fi nger of blame for a mysterious mass killer of Californian oak trees came to rest on a previously undescribed plant pathogen. From the initial identifi cation of Phytophthora ramorum, it took less than four years to produce a draft sequence of its genome, one of the fastest-ever discovery-to-sequence stories for a complex pathogen. This achievement was a United States initia...

There are more than 60 species in the genus Phytophthora (94), and most are destructive plant pathogens. Extensive efforts are directed at the control of Phytophthora diseases each year, yet they still cause serious crop losses. For example, more than $200 million in lost production annually is attributed to Phytophthora diseases in Australia alone (47). Late blight, caused by P. infestans, pro...

Two distinct Phytophthora taxa were found to be associated with brown rot of pomelo (Citrus grandis), a new disease of this ancestral Citrus species, in the Vinh Long province, Mekong River Delta area, southern Vietnam. On the basis of morphological characters and using the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of the rDNA and the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) as barcode genes, one of the two taxa was pro...

There are more than 60 species in the genus Phytophthora (94), and most are destructive plant pathogens. Extensive efforts are directed at the control of Phytophthora diseases each year, yet they still cause serious crop losses. For example, more than $200 million in lost production annually is attributed to Phytophthora diseases in Australia alone (47). Late blight, caused by P. infestans, pro...

Microsatellites were evaluated as genetic markers for the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) of Phytophthora cinnamomi for population studies. Two (A)n microsatellite loci were cloned from the mtDNA of P. cinnamomi. Amplification products from these loci showed little polymorphism among Phytophthora isolates due to their location in coding regions of mtDNA. A further three (A)n microsatellite loci ob...

Introduction For a scientist, my title may seem a little sensationalist in tone. This is deliberate to draw attention to my issue. And here’s the issue. About six years ago the previously unknown invasive pathogen P. ramorum sp. nov. was found spreading on trees and shrubs in North America and Europe. Almost simultaneously in the U.K. we found another previously unknown invasive Phytophthora on...

Abstract Crop wild relatives (CWRs) have high levels of genetic diversity compared to their domesticated descendants. Soybean (Glycine max) has over 20 species CWRs, most which are in secondary and tertiary gene pools. Glycine soja, hereafter ‘soja,’ is the only relative primary pool, i.e., that readily cross with soybean. Soja many advantageous traits may be transferrable soybean, including re...

Molecular techniques have been developed for detection and identification of P. ramorum and other Phytophthora species that are based on the mitochondrially encoded sequences. One technique uses a Phytophthora genus specific primer to determine if a Phytophthora species is present, followed by a nested amplification with species-specific primers to determine if the pathogen is P. ramorum or one...

Black pepper is the one of most important export products in Vietnam. As the largest exporter, Vietnam’s pepper commodities account for 58% of total worldwide exporters. However, Vietnam’s pepper production is dealing with disease problems, especially foot rot/quick death infected by Phytophthora capsici. The disease results in serious and rapid spread and infection in Vietnam, with yearly redu...

The central highlands of Mexico are considered to be a center of genetic diversity for both the potato late blight pathogen and for tuber-bearing Solanum spp. Recent work conducted in Mexico and South America sheds new light on the biology and evolution of Phytophthora infestans and other related Phytophthora pathogens. It now appears that Mexican Solanum species, which coevolved with P. infest...