Fungicide use and \u3cem\u3eColletotrichum acutatum\u3c/em\u3e levels over the past two years - a grower survey

Current New Jersey recommendations for anthracnose Colletotrichum acutatum control in highbush blueberry call for several fungicide applications starting at the beginning of bloom and continuing afterwards on more susceptible varieties such as Bluecrop. Chemistries are rotated for a resistance management program. Numerous growers are having problems with anthracnose infection control in New Jersey blueberry production. The objective of this study was to survey grower fungicide programs and anthracnose levels over 2 years to see if there was a weakness in commercial fungicide programs. Commercial packed pints of ripe blueberries, cv. Bluecrop, were collected along with grower spray records. Fruit was stored at room temperature (24o C) for 10 days and read for percent infection. The timing for bloom infection periods was identified and compared to fungicide application records. In 2016, berries ranged from 1 to 72% infected, and in 2017, ranged from 0 to 63% infected. Data analyses attempted to correlate grower fungicide use and timing of fungicide applications with resulting anthracnose infections. Observations show that there is a more complex picture to anthracnose control other than starting fungicide cover sprays during bloom, and rotating chemistries. Some growers who are following current recommendations for anthracnose control still produce fruit with high infection rates, while others obtain excellent control. Further work will include looking at sprayer type and spray coverage

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Implementation of preemptive DNA sequence–based pharmacogenomics testing across a large academic medical center: The Mayo-Baylor RIGHT 10K Study

The Mayo-Baylor RIGHT 10K Study enabled preemptive, sequence-based pharmacogenomics (PGx)-driven drug prescribing practices in routine clinical care within a large cohort. We also generated the tools and resources necessary for clinical PGx implementation and identified challenges that need to be overcome. Furthermore, we measured the frequency of both common genetic variation for which clinical guidelines already exist and rare variation that could be detected by DNA sequencing, rather than genotyping.Targeted oligonucleotide-capture sequencing of 77 pharmacogenes was performed using DNA from 10,077 consented Mayo Clinic Biobank volunteers. The resulting predicted drug response–related phenotypes for 13 genes, including CYP2D6 and HLA, affecting 21 drug–gene pairs, were deposited preemptively in the Mayo electronic health record.For the 13 pharmacogenes of interest, the genomes of 79% of participants carried clinically actionable variants in 3 or more genes, and DNA sequencing identified an average of 3.3 additional conservatively predicted deleterious variants that would not have been evident using genotyping.Implementation of preemptive rather than reactive and sequence-based rather than genotype-based PGx prescribing revealed nearly universal patient applicability and required integrated institution-wide resources to fully realize individualized drug therapy and to show more efficient use of health care resources