Poster: Plant-pathogen interactions

Abs # 509: Molecular Genetic Evaluation of Sorghum Germplasm Differing in Response to Three Fungal Diseases: Anthracnose, Grain Mold and Rust

Presenter:	Wang, Ming Li , wang@griffin.uga.edu
Authors	Wang, Ming Li  (A)   Dean, Rob  (B)   Erpelding, John  (C)   Pederson, Gary  (A)
Affiliations:	(A): USDA-ARS, PGRCU, 1109 Experiment Street, Griffin, GA 30223, USA (B): University of Georgia, 1109 Experiment Street, Griffin, GA 30223, USA (C): USDA-ARS, TARS, 2200 Pedro Albizu Campos Avenue, Mayagüez, PR 00680, USA

Sorghum is one of the major crops in the world and is well adaptive to environmental extremes. However, sorghum diseases cause significant yield losses annually. Limited information is available of genetic diversity for disease resistance that could benefit sorghum improvement programs. Ninety-six sorghum accessions were selected from the US National Plant Germplasm System based on the reported response in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) to three fungal diseases, anthracnose (Colletotrichum sublineolum), grain mold and rust (Puccinia purpurea). These accessions were characterized by a set of 40 DNA markers to evaluate diversity in relation to disease response. We intend to (1) identify accessions resistant to anthracnose, grain mold and rust; (2) classify the genetic resources for disease resistance; (3) identify markers associated with resistance for marker assisted selection (MAS), and (4) associate different responses to disease with haplotypes. Acknowledgements: The authors gratefully thank Ms. Meredith Reed for her excellent assistance for Beckman analysis, Ms. Merrelyn Spinks for her help searching the GRIN database, and Ms. Phiffie Vankus and Mr. David Pinnow for their help in germination of sorghum seeds.