Sugarcane evaluation to smut resistance as determined by the fungal growth in plant

• Grant number: 13/24124-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2014
• End date: July 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Principal Investigator: Claudia Barros Monteiro Vitorello
• Grantee: Gustavo Schiavone Crestana
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Sporisorium scitamineum is a dimorphic and biotrophic fungus responsible for smut disease in sugarcane. Smut species need to produce dikaryotic hyphae before successfully infecting the host cell and completing its sexual cycle. The mating reaction is controlled by two loci named a and b. There are two divergently transcribed genes in locus b encoding subunits (bE e bW) of a heterodimeric homeodomain transcription factor, which is only functional if the subunits come from genetically different mates. This is the key for the maintenance of the dikaryotic hyphae. Sugarcane cultivar resistance to smut is variable. This works aims to describe internal resistance by analyzing the growth of S. scitamineum in planta. Three cultivars will be first analyzed as they are described as having different levels of resistance (IAC66-6, SP80-3280 e RB 925345). Techniques such as light microscopy and PCR will be used to detect growth prior the development of syntoms. (AU)