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Phytophthora ramorum, photo courtesy of Matteo Garbelotto, UC Berkeley
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Phytophthora is
a genus of the Oomycetes (water molds) which, through convergent evolution,
have similarities to fungi. However, oomycetes are not fungi (as had been
earlier thought), but are part of Stramenopiles, a kingdom distinct from
plants, fungi, and animals that also includes diatoms and golden-brown and
brown algae, such as kelp.
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Fifty-nine
species of Phytophthora are recognized. They attack hundreds
of different plant species, including many crops, costing tens of billions
of dollars in damage per year. Genome sequencing efforts at JGI have focused
on two species, Phytophthora sojae and P. ramorum. P.
sojae has been developed as a model species for the genus, having
in place excellent genetic and genomics resources (including genetic maps,
BAC libraries, and EST sequences), as well as having a well organized
community of researchers. The particularly virulent P. ramorum is
now destroying coastal oaks in California (causing "Sudden Oak Death"),
attacks black oak, shreve oak, and tan oak, as well as a variety of shrubs
that inhabit the oak ecosystems, and threatens the oak forests in the
Sierra Nevada and, potentially, the red oak forests of the east coast
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