Indo-French research project to study leaf fall disease in natural rubber

The French Indo-French Center for the Promotion of Advanced Research (IFCPAR/CEFIPRA) has approved an advanced research project to study Corynespora defoliation disease of natural rubber in collaboration with Rubber Sheet.

The research project titled “Dissecting a Complex Plant Pathogen Interaction Network Through a Multiscale Integrative Approach to Understand the Evolution of Corynespora Leaf Fall Disease in Rubber and Identification of Molecular Breeding Candidate Genes” has a duration of three years, and the amount allowed is Rs 1.62 crore.

Corynespora cassiicola is caused by the Corynespora leaf disease of the rubber tree, a major threat to natural rubber production in Asia. Reproducibility of high-yielding rubber is a major limitation because it causes yield loss due to frequent leaf fall.

The Indo-French collaborative research project adopts a multi-scale approach (transcription, proteomics and metabolomics) to investigate complex biological processes in the pathogen-induced host that are regulated at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels during host-pathogen interactions.

The project aims to identify and eliminate allergen-carrying rubber clones that could lead to an epidemic outbreak of disease under specific environmental conditions.

The principal investigators on the project are Bindu Roy (Principal Scientist, Rubber Research Institute of India-RRII) and Valerie Pujade Renaud (Senior Scientist, French Agricultural Research Center for International Development).