2014
Developing charcoal rot resistant soybeans
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Contributor/Checkoff:
Kansas Soybean Commission
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
Crop protectionDiseaseField management
Parent Project:
This is the first year of this project.
Lead Principal Investigator:
Daniel Zurek, Pittsburg State University
Co-Principal Investigators:
Project Code:
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
Kansas Soybean Commission
(n/a)
Institution Funded:
Pittsburg State University
(n/a)
Brief Project Summary:

Charcoal rot is ranked the fourth most economically important soybean disease (after soybean cyst-nematode, Phytophthora root rot, and seedling diseases), and there are at present no efficient control methods or resistant soybean cultivars to evade this pathogen. This disease, the top soybean crop disease in Kansas, costs Kansas farmers alone 50-60 million dollars each year, and can take a farm's entire crop during a year where the plants are experiencing high heat and drought stress.

Unique Keywords:
#charcoal rot, #soybean bioengineering, #soybean diseases, #soybean gene expression
Information And Results
Final Project Results

Dr. Uli Commandeur, Senior scientist, RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Molecular Biotechnology, Germany, has agreed to give us the Alc-1 promoter he used in several excellent publications that have similarities to our project, though a completely different goal. His work, specifically “Ethanol inducible expression of a mesophilic cellulase avoids adverse effects on plant development” (Klose et al. Biotechnology for Biofuels 2013, 6:53) involved using this inducible promoter to successfully express cellulase, also a B-1, 4 glucanase, without causing deformation or lethal events in transformed plants. This is ideal for us as our goal is to grow more soybeans, not make a charcoal rot resistant plant that produces poorly or not at all. Treatment is simple, inducing by watering using 0.4-2% ethanol or methanol: lower amounts give lower expression levels, allowing us to modulate expression, and the gene is off until induced, allowing seed development and initial germination free of potential adverse effects. Also there are related compounds, such as acetaldehyde, that cause preferential expression in roots, the initial site of infection by charcoal rot, giving us another tool to work with in addition to changing timing and degree of expression. The end goal of this project, charcoal rot resistant soybeans, will still take some time but thanks to the extended support of the Kansas Soybean Commission I am confident that we will get plants to test for resistance in the near future.

The United Soybean Research Retention policy will display final reports with the project once completed but working files will be purged after three years. And financial information after seven years. All pertinent information is in the final report or if you want more information, please contact the project lead at your state soybean organization or principal investigator listed on the project.