Scientists in California and Virginia will try to decodegenetic makeup of two plant-destro

Scientists in California and Virginia will try to decode

genetic makeup of two plant-destroying microbes, including 【M1】______

one blaming for killing tens of thousands of oak trees along the 【M2】______

West Coast.

Backed by ＄4 million in federal grants, the scientists hope

to sequence the genomes of the two species of Phytophthora.

The most notorious of the pair is P. ramorum, that causes sudden【M3】______

oak death syndrome.

With the genomes in hand, scientists expect to develop

the mean to track, detect and, eventually, treat both diseases.【M4】______

P. ramorum has killed tens of thousands of black oak,

coast live oak and tan oak trees in northern California and

southern Oregon as it first appeared in 1995. This year, 【M5】______

scientists invented coast redwoods and Douglas fir also 【M6】______

are susceptible, as is at least 14 other plant species. 【M7】______

At the same time, scientists at the Walnut Creek laboratory

and at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute in Blacksburg will

sequence the genome of P. sojae, a related microbe

responsible soy rot, which is estimated to cause ＄1 billion in 【M8】______

damages to soy Bean crops worldwide. Both sequences will be

free available on the Internet once completed. 【M9】______

The two species of funguslike organisms are closely

related to algae. Among their relatives is P. infestans, the microbe

responsible for the failure of potato crops in Ireland in the

19th century and the resulting famine. The name

Phytophthora means "plant devourer" in Greece. 【M10】______

【M1】