PSLA hosted Dr. Jo Anne Crouch, USDA-ARS (February 25th )
Dr. Jo Anne Crouch, USDA-ARS
New Downy Mildew Diseases – by Robert Korir (and PLSC689A)
A rapid emergence of downy mildew diseases is having a detrimental impact on many specialty crops in the United States. The work of Dr. Jo Anne Crouch at the USDA-ARS focuses on fungi and oomycetes responsible for destructive diseases of ornamental plants and turfgrass. Current study systems include boxwood blight, turfgrass anthracnose, and newly emergent downy mildew diseases of impatiens, Rudbeckia and cucurbits. In her seminar, Dr. Crouch discussed downy mildew disease outbreaks and factors that may be influencing the spread of these diseases. Her research team makes use of the vast resources in the U.S. National Fungus Collection, allowing them to directly query the genetic makeup of pathogens using specimens collected decades or even centuries before the onset of disease epidemics for comparative analysis with present day samples.
