Measuring oomycete biodiversity in aquatic, forest, and agricultural ecosystems: Culture-based and metagenomic approaches
J. E. BLAIR (1). (1) Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
The fungal-like oomycetes include a number of devastating pathogens, such as the notorious potato late blight agent, <i>Phytophthora infestans</i>; it is not surprising then that most research has focused on host-pathogen interactions, with relatively little study concerning the natural diversity of saprotrophic species. This knowledge gap has important ramifications on our estimates of oomycete biodiversity, as well as on our understanding of the evolutionary history of this important group. The goal of this study is to estimate oomycete biodiversity from several habitats, including aquatic environments, undisturbed forest soils, and highly managed agricultural settings. While our culture-based surveys have relied on various baiting techniques, it is known that these methods lead to biased estimates of biodiversity as they favor fast-growing organisms and those producing zoospores. We have therefore developed a metagenomic approach to more thoroughly sample diversity from the different environments. We are currently verifying the mitochondrial COI locus as our sequencing target; previous studies have shown that this locus is able to discriminate among closely related species, and provide phylogenetic signal at several taxonomic levels. We expect that this combination of culture-based and sequence-based methods will enhance our understanding of oomycete ecology and evolution, and perhaps give us more insight into the roles of certain species in the outbreak of disease.
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