Université Laval
Ph.D. candidate
Supervisor: Edel Pérez-López
Start: 2022-01-10
End: 2026-02-12
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Project

Characterization of genetic diversity of Plasmodiophora brassicae
Plasmodiophora brassicae is a catastrophic pathogen and responsible for clubroot disease in brassicas crops, with annual economic losses of billion dollars in Canada and worldwide. While canola is the most economically important host regarding clubroot disease around the world, especially in Canada where canola is the most widely grown crop covering approximately 20 million acres and generate 29.9 billion dollars for Canadian economy. The resting spores of clubroot pathogen can be viable for 20 years so, managing the clubroot pathogen is challenging task for canola growers in Canada and worldwide. The clubroot resistant (CR) canola cultivar is the only best management solution against this pathogen. However, the CR canola cultivars become susceptible to virulent P. brassicae strains after one or two years, due to high diversity of multiple stains present in the canola field. The rapid adaptation of clubroot pathogen due to high diversity and its effect on CR canola cultivars is not well characterised till this date. Therefore, this project aims to elucidate the impact of clubroot pathogen genetic diversity and rapid evolution through genomics against commercially available CR canola cultivars. Unfortunately, the available genomic information to reveal clubroot impacts utilizing population and comparative genomics analysis is suboptimal and insufficient. Compared to other pathosystems, we are almost a decade behind in the genomic area. To address all above challenges, we will develop for the first time a high-quality telomere-to-telomere (T2T) chromosome-resolved genome of clubroot pathogen, which is fundamental step to investigate the pathogen genomics. In addition, by utilizing the population genomics approach and virulence profiling of 100 single spores isolates and 12 global clubroot population, we will uncover the genomic variations encoding virulence genes that drive pathogen evolution and associated with resistance breaking in canola cultivars. In conclusion, this project will be a great resource for canola breeders and plant pathologists and will help the farmers community to limit the spread of the clubroot disease around the world.

Publications

1- Telomere-to-telomere Genome Assembly of the Clubroot Pathogen Plasmodiophora Brassicae
Javed, Muhammad Asim, Soham Mukhopadhyay, Eric Normandeau, Anne-Sophie Brochu, Edel Pérez-López,
2024 Genome Biology and Evolution

2- A Basic Guide to the Propagation and Manipulation of the Clubroot Pathogen, Plasmodiophora brassicae
Salih, Rasha, Muhammad Asim Javed, Anne‐Sophie Brochu, Priyavashini Prakash, Jean‐Dominic Côté, Edel Pérez‐López
2024 Current Protocols

3- Chitinase of Trichoderma longibrachiatum for control of Aphis gossypii in cotton plants
Anwar, Waheed, Huma Amin, Hafiz Azhar Ali Khan, Adnan Akhter, Uzma Bashir, Tehmina Anjum, Rabia Kalsoom, Muhammad Asim Javed, Karamat Ali Zohaib
2023 Scientific Reports

4- The clubroot pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae: A profile update
Javed, Muhammad Asim, Arne Schwelm, Nazanin Zamani‐Noor, Rasha Salih, Marina Silvestre Vañó, Jiaxu Wu, Melaine González García, Thies Marten Heick, Chaoyu Luo, Priyavashini Prakash, Edel Pérez‐López
2022 Molecular Plant Pathology

5- Characterization of fungal flora associated with sternorrhyncha insects of cotton plants
Anwar, Waheed, Kiran Nawaz, Muhammad Asim Javed, Adnan Akhter, Ahmad Ali Shahid, Muhammad Saleem Haider, Muhammad Zia Ur Rehman, Sajid Ali
2020 Biologia

6- Chitinase genes from Metarhizium anisopliae for the control of whitefly in cotton
Anwar, Waheed, Muhammad Asim Javed, Ahmad Ali Shahid, Kiran Nawaz, Adnan Akhter, Muhammad Zia Ur Rehman, Usman Hameed, Sehrish Iftikhar, Muhammad Saleem Haider
2019 Royal Society Open Science

7- Entomopathogenic fungus Clonostachys rosea as a biocontrol agent against whitefly (Bemisia tabaci)
Anwar, Waheed, Sajid Ali, Kiran Nawaz, Sehrish Iftikhar, Muhammad Asim Javed, Abeer Hashem, Abdulaziz A. Alqarawi, Elsayed Fathi Abd_Allah, Adnan Akhter
2018 Biocontrol Science and Technology