Masaru Takeya¹, Fukuhiro Yamasaki¹, Shihomi Uzuhashi², Hiroyuki Sawada², Toshirou Nagai², Keisuke Tomioka², Toyozo Sato², Takayuki Aoki², Makoto Kawase³

¹Genetic Resources Conservation Research Unit, NIAS, ²Classification and Evaluation Research Unit, NIAS, ³Genetic Resources Center, NIAS

［Abstract］

A database of plant diseases in Japan was constructed and is available on the NIAS website. The database contains more than 10,000 common names of plant diseases and can be searched according to disease name, host plant, or pathogen name. The disease database is linked to the NIAS genetic resource databases for plants and microorganisms by connecting the host and pathogen names, respectively.

［Keywords］

plant disease names, genetic resources, database, genebank

［Background］

Microorganism genetic resources preserved in the NIAS Genebank are frequently used for phytopathology and taxonomy research because many reference strains of Japanese plant pathogens have been preserved and prepared for distribution. Many accessions of plant and microorganism genetic resources also have records of attributes related to plant diseases, such as disease resistance and pathogenicity. The recorded data are open to users through the Web-based data retrieval system. Plant disease information has been managed as individual data sets of correlated plants and microorganisms. However, these important mutual relationships between hosts and pathogens were not always reflected within the genetic resources database. Therefore, we constructed a database of plant diseases in Japan based on the book, “Common Names of Plant Diseases in Japan, 1st ed.” edited by the Phytopathological Society of Japan, to realize an information system where the plant and microorganism databases were effectively connected through the plant disease names.

［Results and Discussion］

1. The plant disease database has been developed based on hosts, disease names, pathogens, and references recorded in the book, “Common Names of Plant Diseases in Japan, 1st ed.” Data on pathogen categories including fungi, bacteria, and viruses were added recently. The database includes 1,957 names of host plants and 11,406 common names of plant diseases as of Jan. 16, 2012.
2. The Web-based data retrieval system provides candidate disease names based on the search criteria of disease name, host, and pathogen. Flexible retrieval is accomplished through user support functions such as partial match options, multiple selections, and auto-complete functions of the key-word input fields (Fig. 1).
3. Matching of pathogen and microorganism genetic resources was checked by the collation of both scientific names and coincidence of the disease host and the isolation source of a strain. Host and plant matches were established by the collation of plant names and a set of evaluation data for resistance to the disease. Linkage of the disease database to the genetic resources database is provided as “Related strains” and “Related hosts of plant diseases” in the window of detailed information. When the characteristics in the window of detailed information indicated pathogenicity of the strain or when pathogenicity was reported in the literature cited, the link function to the corresponding disease name in the database was prepared in the microorganism search system. These link functions may provide an easy search and distribution system of genetic resources in relation to preparing an experimental sample set for plant pathological research works (Fig. 1).
4. The link function to the floricultural diseases was built in relation to the website of the NARO Institute of Floricultural Science to enable users to refer to photographic pictures of the diseases and their prevention/protection methods.

1. Since the plant disease database may facilitate access to pertinent genome information such as DNA sequence data of the barcode gene regions of microorganisms linked to the genetic resource database, the database can be expected to be utilized for various research purposes.
2. The number of external linked sites will be increased in order to enrich the information on diseases and their prevention/protection. Preparation of original images and descriptions may be considered to provide additional information on useful characteristics about the unique genetic resources preserved in the NIAS Genebank.

Fig. 1. Database search interface The database is provided with a search interface that allows a user to specity the search conditions for a particular plant disease and execute a search (upper panel). The search results include links to other pathogens related to the disease (lower left) and other plant hosts of the pathogen (lower right).

[Reference]

1. Sato T, Yamasaki F, Takeya M (2009) Common name database of plant diseases in Japan. Plant protection 63(9):587-591 . (in Japanese)
2. Takeya M, Yamasaki F, Uzuhashi S, Aoki T, Sawada H, Nagai T, Tomioka K, Tomooka N, Sato T, Kawase M (2011) NIASGBdb: NIAS Genebank databases for genetic resources and plant disease information Nucleic Acids Research 39(suppl 1):D1108-D1113
3. Database of plant diseases in Japan :
   http://www.gene.affrc.go.jp/databases-micro_pl_diseases_en.php