Molecular basis of race determination and pathogenesis in Cercospora sojina

Frogeye Leaf Spot (FLS), caused by the fungal pathogen Cercospora sojina Hara, is a common and recurrent disease of soybeans in many production areas around the world. The primary objective of this project was to elucidate the genetic basis of host adaptation on subpopulations of C. sojina that differ in infection phenotypes. Addressing this objective, a new reference genome assembly was performed on the C. sojina 2.2.3 strain and a robust race phenotyping screening of geographically diverse C. sojina isolates followed by a novel strategy and a pool-sequencing analysis of identified subpopulations were implemented.