Research Insights

Brown spot needle blight (BSNB), caused by Lecanosticta acicola, is a foliar disease affecting several species of pines and is a major concern for many commercial plantations globally. The use of host resistance is a promising avenue to mitigate the damage caused by the disease, however, little has been done to characterize resistance and facilitate selection in the radiata pine (Pinus radiata) system, despite the high susceptibility of the species and its commercial importance in many regions. The scope of this proposal is to investigate and characterize the resistance of radiata pine to BSNB, both through classical quantitative genetics and by uncovering the underlying genetic mechanisms. Specific objectives include (i) optimizing controlled inoculation protocols for infecting radiata pine with L. acicola; (ii) infecting a set of New Zealand radiata pine families to assess their susceptibility to BSNB, and establish heritability values for BSNB resistance in radiata pine; (iii) performing transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses on radiata pine seedlings, to understand host genetic responses, as well as chemical and morphological responses; (iv) identifying genome‐wide molecular markers for the rapid selection of radiata pine resistant to BSNB; and (v) comparing genomic regions potentially associated with resistance to BSNB with those involved in the interaction with other needle diseases, for example Dothistroma Needle Blight and Red Needle Cast.

Funder: Radiata Pine Breeding Company

Amount: $294,994

PI: Caterina Villari, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources