Rustbusters2003
August 16-18, 2003
2nd Announcement (May 2003)
Registration
Please register by May 30th
if it is likely you will attend.
White Pine Blister Rust Resistance Meeting
Progress to date regarding development of durable resistance for white pine species and where do we go from here?
What
'Rustbusters' was started about 12 years ago and meets as an informal group about every two years. The group deals with issues related to white pine blister rust resistance (caused by Cronartium ribicola).
Where
Rustbusters will meet August 16-18, 2003 at Dorena Genetic Resource Center (near Cottage Grove, Oregon). There will be two days of fieldtrips (Sat. and Sun., Aug 16-17th) and a one-day indoor session (Monday, Aug. 18th).
Rustbusters immediately precedes the Western International Forest Disease Work Conference (WIFDWC) which will be held August 19-22, 2003 in Grants Pass, Oregon (~2 hours drive from Dorena). Contact Ellen Goheen (egoheen@fs.fed.us) or see http://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/technology/wif/ for details for WIFDWC. The Rust Panel at WIFDWC is currently scheduled for Friday the 22nd from 8:30-10:30 a.m.
Who should attend
Research and operations people actively involved in blister rust resistance work, others working with resistance responses of forest trees or molecular biology tools and their application in resistance development.
We have had a very good response to the first announcement. Previous �Rustbusters� have involved research and operations people primarily from the western U.S. However, there is interest from eastern Canada, Maine, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. We anticipate a national audience at this meeting.
Format
The general format has been a roundtable session to bring everyone up to speed on topics each of us is working on or concerned about. Discussion is heavily encouraged (practically mandatory!!), and disagreements are fine. Potential joint collaborations are sought. In the past we have also sought to work out some common terminology (still pending, I think). Format may change depending on the number of participants. The two days of fieldtrips will allow the group to see specific items that will set the tone for discussion. We anticipate much discussion in the field, and there may be 1-2 hours at the end of each field trip to start discussions.
Agenda (subject to change)
This section has been changed. Please refer to the updated agenda.
Saturday (Aug. 16, ~0900-1530)
- Visit �Champion Mine� and surrounding area on the Cottage Grove Ranger District of the Umpqua National Forest, of historical interest for discoveries of major gene resistance (Cr2) in western white pine (WWP) and virulence to Cr2 (vcr2).
- Visit the ~1969-1974 Grass Creek planting of full-sib WWP families. This is one of the earliest outplantings of material from the Region 6 (Oregon/Washington) program.
- Visit the Dorena Ribes garden (mixture of native and horticultural species) and observe infection during its peak period.
Sunday (Aug. 17, ~0900-1700)
- Visit the 1997-1998 WWP and sugar pine (SP) pine plantings of some of the top families from recent Dorena screening (infection is already high in these plantings). See MGR, Mechanism �X�, and Mechanism �Q� families in the field. These sites also have a pathotype of C. ribicola virulent to major gene resistance in WWP present but not the pathotype virulent to major gene resistance in SP.
- Visit the blister rust testing beds at Dorena and observe the results of operational short-term screening. We currently have western white pine (WWP), sugar pine (SP), eastern white pine (EWP), whitebark pine (WBP), Armand pine and a few other pine species inoculated. Examine family trends in resistance responses � including full-sib checklots from the Idaho program, differences due to inoculum density, differences from geographic source of inoculum, as well as responses of resistant eastern white pine and Armand pine to inoculum from the Pacific Northwest. We also have 8 WWP diallels that were inoculated in 1999 and are at a good stage of study (and results may give evidence of a slight fitness cost of virulence in the rust), 3 diallels of SP as well as various other full-sib families or families retested for validation of resistance responses.
- Visit the Dorena �boneyard� and see 20-year blister rust survivors.
- Visit the largest inoculation chamber in the west (effective size 42�x 32� x 10�)
Monday (Aug 18, 0730-1600)
- Short roundtable updates; extensive discussion; formal presentations (time permitting). Some people will head for the WIFDWC meeting at ~1630 (~2.5 hours south of Dorena).
Some potential areas for discussion
- Resistance mechanisms or responses
- How many resistance mechanisms (or responses) are there for each species, and how are these inherited? Is the evidence definitive or is more work needed? How durable are each of these specific mechanisms?
- How best to package the resistance mechanisms?
- What mechanisms can be screened for at the cotyledon stage vs. 1st year seedlings vs. second year seedlings vs. only in the field?
- Resistance information from other plant species (particularly relating to resistance mechanisms, durability of resistance, and use of molecular tools)
- How can molecular tools help us at this stage, and who is interested?
- How much genetic variation exists in the rust--in North America, in Europe, in Asia? What further testing is needed? Is there evidence of �another� blister rust in Asia? How does it affect North American white pine species? Susceptibility/Resistance of European or Asian species in their native habitats, in plantations, and as exotics (in North America). Information on resistance in species hybrids.
- Deployment strategies and management options to aid in increasing the durability of resistance or lowering the rust hazard.
- Resources available for cooperative work: genetic material, field sites, etc.
- Major gene resistance and virulence
- What is known
- �Bypassing� of MGR.
- Virulence and fitness cost � examining the evidence
- How to make resistance selection and breeding more efficient
- Developing resistance programs for other North American species (e.g. whitebark pine)
- Determining baseline resistance in other North American species (e.g. whitebark pine, limber pine, foxtail pine, southwestern white pine, and both bristlecone pines) and the threatened Central American species.
- Durable resistance and areas of resistance 'breakdown' and causes
- Inoculating pines with spores bulked from many geographic areas versus spores from single geographic areas (some results in WWP and whitebark pine) � does it matter?
- Site Hazard - Matching resistance type to site hazard � can it be done? Can site hazard be determined? What influence do �wave� years have?
- The use of fire in white pine restoration in areas of blister rust: help or hindrance?
Occasionally I or someone else has typed up short notes from these sessions, but generally they are informal. However, for this meeting we will try to compile overview notes and circulate. In general, there is no registration fee (good news) and the host usually provides the meeting room and the transport for the fieldtrips. Each participant is responsible for meals, lodging, etc. Depending on the size of the group, this is subject to change.
In the US there is a draft national report on white pines and blister rust. The output from this meeting should help define areas of focus for the future.
