Plant & Animal Genomes XIV Conference Plant & Animal Genomes XIV ConferenceJanuary 14-18, 2006
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA
Erica M Swenson , Brad Geary , Giovanna Plata , Alejandro Bonifacio , Peter J Maughan , Eric N Jellen , Craig E. Coleman , Dan J. Fairbanks , Mikel R Stevens
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is a major source of food and protein in mountainous areas of the Andes. Downy mildew (Peronospora farinosa f sp. chenopodii) is the major pathogen problem encountered in quinoa cultivation and can cause 100% crop loss. Downy mildew is an obligate parasite that thrives when conditions are cool and wet, which occurs frequently in some Andean regions. With control measures quinoa can increase food supplies and nutritional intake of subsistence farmers. Isolates are known to differ in their virulence patterns, but are difficult to morphologically distinguish from each other. Identification of isolates by their relative virulence is unknown. This study focuses on developing AFLP fingerprints for downy mildew isolates for identification. Information on the isolates will be used to further resistance screening and quinoa breeding. DNA was extracted from spores from three Bolivian isolates. Approximately 20 polymorphisms have been found. Additionally, these polymorphisms can be used to identify population evolution, potentially facilitating quinoa breeding and deployment of prospective resistant quinoa cultivars, and further research.