WP0. Coordinating and disseminating IPMBlight2.0 activities

Didier Andrivon, INRA. Lead of WP0

Overall project management and  responsibility will be carried out by the project coordinator, Didier Andrivon, and  the Project  Management Board composed of the  project coordinator and Workpackage (WP) leaders.

Advisory Board. We will set-up an Advisory Board (AB) comprising one  expert from each sector: science, extension, breeding and  the chemical industry. All AB members will be external to the  project, so as to provide independent advice and  assessments.

Internal  communication & IPR and contractual issues. A Consortium Agreement will be prepared and  signed in the  first month of the  project, to secure an open  and transparent process about research agenda, use  of data and  IPR related issues.

WP1. Monitoring European P. infestans populations.

David Cooke, JHI. Lead of WP1

WP1 complements the  survey undertaken by EuroBlight,  and  will enable Europe  to track  emerging populations. The work will build on existing achievements by the  EuroBlight  network and  associated global  partners with regard to monitoring of P. infestans in Europe  and beyond. The WP work will answer questions like: What are  the  dominant clonal  lineages (genotypes) in Europe  over  time  and  across countries? What is their  relatedness to global  populations? How can  we quickly and  reliably  identify  new emerging populations? This WP will build the  foundations for a global  service enabling Europe  to track  and  trace new emerging populations originating from Europe itself or from other continents.

WP2. Linking phenotypes to genotypes

Eve Runno-Pauerson, EULS

Lead of WP2

This WP aims  to analyse key phenotypic traits (aggressiveness – i.e. quantitative pathogenicity; sensitivity to major  active ingredients currently in use  in Europe  for late  blight control; virulence – i.e. ability to infect  breeding material or in European potato cultivars possessing race-specific resistance genes) from the  isolate collections established and  genotyped in WP 1. The comparison of genotypic and  phenotypic data will be carried out to determine the  possibilities of inferring phenotypic characteristics from genotypic markers, in both  clonal  and sexual populations of the  pathogen. If possible, this inference will be very useful  for prediction and  strategy design purposes, as the genotypic fingerprinting is much  quicker than phenotypic testing. We will therefore analyse variation both  between genotypes and  within clonal  lineages, as these lineages often  consist of numerous variants.

WP3. Developing innovative DSS  integrating epidemiological and pathogen population knowledge

Jens Grønbech Hansen

Lead of WP3

The objective is to develop a new,  quantitative approach to integrate knowledge on weather-based infection risk, epidemiological parameters, and pathogen phenotype and  genotype characteristics (IPM2.0 concept). A suite of new on-line  simulation models, making use of the  phenotypic and  genotypic data, weather data, and  trap  nurseries data from WP1 and  WP2, will be designed and implemented as web-based tools. Existing DSSs in partner countries will then be adjusted based on results from step 1, and improved DSSs will be tested in field experimental trials.