Mariana Prieto Torres is a graduate student in the Vegetable Pathology Lab at NC State University and is working on a PhD under the guidance of her major professor, Dr. Lina Quesada
CucCAP Team News
Contributions to the CucCAP project by the Bioinformatics Team, Cucurbit Crop Breeding Teams, and the Integrated Disease Management Team.
Protect Against Gummy Stem Blight
It is never too early for watermelon producers in the Southeast to start thinking about management options for gummy stem blight disease. As Clemson Extension vegetable pathologist Tony Keinath puts it, “Early is on time.”
Cucurbitaceae 2022 brings together international cucurbit community
The Cucurbitaceae 2022 conference was held in Naples, Florida on October 30 – November 2. The conference was organized by CucCAP co-PIs Geoffrey Meru from the University of Florida and Cecilia McGregor from the University of Georgia. Researchers and industry representatives from North America, Europe and Asia shared information about cucurbit genomics, breeding, disease resistance and cultivation. CucCAP researchers presented 28 talks and posters.
CucCAP scientists identified candidate gene contributing to resistance to downy mildew in cucumber
Downy mildew (DM) is an important disease of cucumber and other cucurbits. Many quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been identified from different resistant resources but very few have been fine mapped or cloned. CucCAP researchers in USDA-ARS and the University of Wisconsin Madison reported identification and functional characterization of the candidate gene for the major-effect QTL, dm5.3, for DM resistance from the plant introduction line PI 197088. This gene, which can enhance plant disease signaling, is currently being used to breed for disease resistance in cucumber.
Cucurbit Genomics Database version 2
Version 2 of the Cucurbit Genomics database (CuGenDBv2) was released in April 2022. Database users will notice improved speed and performance.The updated database includes 33 reference genomes from 26 cucurbit species/subspecies belonging to 10 different genera; novel functions for mining and analysis of large-scale variant data; and a comprehensive cucurbit expression atlas.
Early Career Scientist Spotlight | Jingyin Yu
Jingyin Yu is a post doc in Zhangjun Fei’s lab in the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University in Ithica, N.Y. His research focuses on the development of the cucurbit genomics database and cucumber pangenome analysis.
Early Career Scientist Spotlight | Honghe Sun
Honghe Sun is a graduate student working on a PhD in Dr. Zhangjun Fei’s Lab at Boyce Thompson Institute. The focus of his work is genomics.
CucCAP scientists use genomic approaches to facilitate breeding for PRSV-W resistance in squash
Papaya ringspot virus-W (PRSV-W) causes severe yield losses in squash production. The Meru laboratory at the University of Florida identified a single QTL for resistance on Chromosome 09 of the C. moschata genome. Subsequent testing identified two SNP markers as potential targets for marker-assisted selection. The findings of this study will facilitate breeding for resistance against PRSV-W in commercial squash cultivars.
