Dr. L. David Kuykendall serves as a Microbiologist/ Horticulturalist/ Plant Pathologist investigating the complex interactions of sugar beets, Beta vulgaris, with pathogenic micro-organisms. Sugar beets currently supply about 50% of the United States' sucrose, or sugar, and once processed it is identical to that of sugarcane. The focus of this program is to control disease and/or improve disease resistance to microbial pathogens using genetic modification. Genes determining natural resistance to target bacteria and/or fungi are first tested in the lab. These genes are then 'engineered,' or fused with suitable plant promoters, for gene expression. Such 'chimeric' genes are then put into the plant genome via transformation. Transgenics are then evaluated for disease susceptibility. This research is expected to increase the profitability of sugar beet production in the U. S. and to decrease the agricultural use of chemical fungicides. Progress is being made on several diseases including Cercospora leaf spot, Erwinia & Rhizoctonia root rot, and Aphanomyces seedling death.