Report from Team members: Zhangjun Fei (Boyce Thompson Institute), Umesh Reddy (West Virginia St. Univ), Amnon Levi (USDA, ARS), Yiqun Weng (USDA, ARS), Michael Mazourek (Cornell University), Pat Wechter (USDA, ARS), Rebecca Grumet (Michigan State University) on Developing genomic and bioinformatic platforms for cucurbit crops and Performing GBS analysis of PI collections, establish core populations of the four species, and provide community resource for genome wide association studies (GWAS).
CucCAP Project
Contributions to the CucCAP project by the Bioinformatics Team, Cucurbit Crop Breeding Teams, and the Integrated Disease Management Team.
Watermelon Team | 2019 CucCAP Progress Report
Watermelon Team members: Amnon Levi (USDA, ARS), Shaker Kousik (USDA, ARS), Kai-shu Ling (USDA, ARS), Cecilia McGregor (Univ. Georgia), Pat Wechter (USDA, ARS), Todd Wehner (North Carolina St. Univ.)
Overall objectives: Identifying quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with resistance to major and emerging diseases, developing useful molecular markers and utilizing the genomic tools to incorporate resistance into watermelon cultivars.
Major diseases: Gummy stem blight, Fusarium wilt, Powdery mildew, Phytophthora fruit rot, Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) and Cucumber green motile mosaic virus (CGMMV).
Melon Team | 2019 CucCAP Progress Report
Melon Team members Jim McCreight (USDA, ARS), Shaker Kousik (USDA, ARS), Michael Mazourek (Cornell Univ.), Pat Wechter (USDA, ARS), and Bill Wintermantel (USDA, ARS) reported their accomplishments in the CucCAP1 project.
Cucumber Team | 2019 CucCAP Progress Report
Team members: Yiqun Weng (USDA, ARS), Rebecca Grumet (Michigan St. Univ.), Todd Wehner (North Carolina St. Univ.) report on GBS of PI lines and GWAS panel selection, Phenotyping of morphological traits and DM resistance in cucumber natural populations, QTL mapping, marker development for DM and PFR resistances, Phytophthora capsici fruit rot resistance in cucumber, Young fruit resistance to P. capsici, Age-related resistance (ARR) to P. capsici, Defense response in ARR+ fruit., QTL mapping of ARR., Advanced line development for downy mildew resistance, Breeding line development for DM resistance, and RIL development and evaluation of DM resistance in 2018 & 2019.
Squash Team | 2019 CucCAP Progress Report
Team members Michael Mazourek (Cornell University), Linda Wessel-Beaver (University of Puerto Rico), Angela Linares (University of Puerto Rico), and Chris Smart (Cornell University) reported on progress made on the CucCAP grant in the previous year.
Economic Team | 2019 CucCAP Progress Report
Team members: Marco Palma (Texas A&M Univ.) Luis Ribera (Texas A&M Univ.) Perform economic analysis, cost of production/disease control and Define, parameterize, simulate, and validate production variables based on cucurbit production crop budgets.
Extension/Outreach Team | 2019 CucCAP Progress Report
Team members:, Jonathan Schultheis (N. Carolina St.Univ.), Mary Hausbeck (Michigan St. Univ.), Angela Linares (Univ. Puerto Rico), Jim McCreight (USDA, ARS), Lina Quesada (N. Carolina St. Univ.), Chris Smart (Cornell Univ.), and Linda Wessel Beaver (Univ. Puerto Rico): Provide readily accessible information to facilitate disease control, Develop a centralized cucurbit disease website, Provide disease alerts and forecasting tools, Provide diagnostic and disease management assistance, and host Field days and demonstration plots.
Charleston Gray watermelon sequenced
The USDA news service posted an article in May 2019 about teamwork among CucCAP scientists on watermelon genomics.
