What is Verticillium sp?
Verticillium dahliae is the primary causal agent of Verticillium wilts that cause billions of dollars in annual losses worldwide. This soil-borne fungal pathogen exhibits extraordinary genetic plasticity and is able to rapidly adapt to a broad range of hosts in diverse ecological niches. Control of Verticillium wilt is particularly difficult. One factor that has hindered progress in developing new control strategies for Verticillium wilt is our limited understanding of the biology and ecology of V. dahliae and other soil-borne pathogens. V. albo-atrum, another widespread and well-studied phytopathogenic Verticillium species, is closely related to V. dahliae, but has a very different host range and distinct phenotypes with respect to its pathogenicity. We will apply comparative genomics to study the molecular mechanisms that underlie the differences in pathogenicity, differentiation, and host-adapted virulence in these two Verticillium spp. This comparative project is supported by the N
