Marta Leonor Marulanda, Ana Maria Lopez and Liliana Isaza
Technological University of Pereira, Colombia
In Colombia, the Andean blackberry (Rubus glaucus Benth) is one of the products with the greatest development potential in the Colombian Andes. It has a share of 0.7% in cultivated area and 0.4% in national production of permanent crops; its annual growth rate is 8.8% in production and 7.8% in area. Anthracnose caused by several species of Colletotrichum fungi is considered a major Andean blackberry pathogen (Rubus glaucus) in Colombia. Plants with fungal tolerance are promising material for growers to avoid pest control through fungicides, which are also detrimental to the environment. By using RNA-seq in R. glaucus tolerant and susceptible accessions to Colletotrichum a large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in tolerant R. glaucus material were identified. A total of 44,660 genes were up-regulated in R. glaucus tolerant material challenged with Colletotrichum when compared to susceptible material also inoculated with the fungus. The largest numbers of identified up-regulated genes were classified as having catalytic and binding activities. In addition over 2,000 SNPs and 4,799 SSR markers that are potential candidates to distinguish between tolerant and susceptible material were also determined. In order to have significant advances in the characterization and selection processes, SSR and SNP markers were evaluated.
Marta Leonor Marulanda is a Biologist with a PhD degree in Agricultural Sciences at Universidad Agraria de La Habana (Cuba), She has 25 years of experience as main Researcher in Plant Biotechnology and 20 years of experience as Professor of Biotechnology- and biology-related courses at different universities in Colombia’s Coffee Belt. She is an Author and Co-author of more than 20 articles published in national and international journals. Currently, she is responsible for seven research projects conducted under different collaborative agreements, mainly with the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Email: mlmarulanda@utp.edu.co
