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Published on: March 9, 2021
Resurgence of Pseudoperonospora cubensis: The Causal Agent of Cucurbit Downy Mildew
Yigal Cohen1, Kyle M Van den Langenberg1, Todd C Wehner1
1First author: Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, 52100, Israel; second and third authors: Department of Horticultural Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695; fourth and sixth authors: Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695; fifth author: Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824-1312; seventh author: Palacký University, Faculty of Science, Department of Botany, 78371 Olomouc, Czech Republic; eighth and ninth authors: Syngenta Crop Protection AG, CH-4432 Stein, Switzerland; and ninth author: Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland.
Abstract:
The downy mildew pathogen, Pseudoperonospora cubensis, which infects plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, has undergone major changes during the last decade. Disease severity and epidemics are far more destructive than previously reported, and new genotypes, races, pathotypes, and mating types of the pathogen have been discovered in populations from around the globe as a result of the resurgence of the disease. Consequently, disease control through host plant resistance and fungicide applications has become more complex. This resurgence of P. cubensis offers challenges to scientists in many research areas including pathogen biology, epidemiology and dispersal, population structure and population genetics, host preference, host-pathogen interactions and gene expression, genetic host plant resistance, inheritance of host and fungicide resistance, and chemical disease control. This review serves to summarize the current status of this major pathogen and to guide future management and research efforts within this pathosystem.
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