Golovinomyces cichoracearum race UCSC1 was isolated at the University of California, Santa Cruz (Adam and Somerville 1996). Morphological features of the asexual life cycle and determination of the Internal Transcribed rRNA Spacer DNA sequence led to the characterization of this fungal isolate as an Erysiphe cichoracearum (Adam et al. 1999). This haploid fungus has not yet been observed to produce sexual spores in a lab setting. G. cichoracearum is one of the causative agents of cucurbit powdery mildew, and is also able to cause disease on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (Adam and Somerville 1996). This pathogen, like the other powdery mildews, is an obligate biotrophic fungus, and can only grow and reproduce on living plant tissue. The genome sequence of this plant pathogen is expected to yield insights into its metabolic capabilities, the basis for its obligate nature, its suite of effectors and cell wall degrading enzymes and its stealthy mode of attack.
References:
- Adam, L., and Somerville, S.C. (1996) Genetic characterization of five powdery mildew disease resistance loci in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Journal 9, 341-356.
- Adam, L., et al. (1999) Comparison of Erysiphe cichoracearum and E. cruciferarum and a survey of 360 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions for resistance to these two powdery mildew pathogens. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 12, 1031-1043.