Journal of Oilseed Brassica, 5 (Special) : 1-41, Jan 2014 Journal of Oilseed Brassica, 5 (special) : Jan 2014 1 Historical perspectives of white rust caused by Albugo candida in Oilseed Brassica P.D. Meena1, P.R. Verma2, G.S. Saharan3, and M. Hossein Borhan4 1 Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research, Bharatpur-321 303, Rajasthan, India Email:
[email protected] 2Retired Senior Oilseed Pathologist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon Research Centre, Saskatoon, SK., S7N OX2 Canada, Email:
[email protected] 3Former Professor & Head, Department of Plant Pathology, CCSHAU, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India, Email:
[email protected] 4Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon Research Centre, Saskatoon, SK., S7N 0X2, Canada, Email:
[email protected] Abstract Albugo candida (Pers. Ex. Lev.) Kuntze is a wide spread pathogen of cruciferous crops causing heavy yield losses all over the world. Molecular and phylogenetic studies of the family Albuginaceae revealed four distinct lineages: Albugo s.str., Albugo s.l., Pustula s.l. and Wilsoniana s.l. It’s host range is more than 300 hosts. The host specificity of A. candida has been recorded from more than eight countries of the world. Studies on host-pathogen interaction, fine structures of hyphae, mycelium, haustoria, sporangia, zoospores and oospores have been conducted through histopathology, electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microcopy. The pathogen survives through mycelium, sporangia and oospores. Germination of sporangia and oospores has been determined. Biochemical host-pathogen interaction studies have been conducted. Studies on identification and cloning of plant defense resistance genes are in progress. Genome sequencing of A. candida and A.