The primary purpose of this agreement is to continue building capacityat the arkansas clean plant center (acpc) with the three missions of theacpc, namely diagnostics, therapeutics and foundation…

This cooperative agreement between the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Division of Agriculture of the University of Arkansas will provide $586,432 to continue building capacity at the Arkansas Clean Plant Center. The Center will deliver diagnostic services for seven berry companies, running 20 high-throughput sequencing runs, 6,000 polymerase chain reaction tests, and 12,000 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays annually over the two-year award period ending August 31, 2024. Additionally, the Center will offer therapeutic services to the berry industry through a newly developed protocol relying on high-throughput sequencing to assess plant health status. The virus-clear-up facility will be fully operational to accept at least 15 plant accessions in the genera Fragaria, Rubus, and Vaccinium for cleanup in the first year. This award supports the U.S. berry industry by increasing the availability of virus-tested clean propagative plant material under the Department of Agriculture's Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care federal grant program (CFDA #10.025).

The primary purpose of this agreement is to continue building capacityat the arkansas clean plant center (acpc) with the three missions of theacpc, namely diagnostics, therapeutics and foundation services to theberry industry. The acpc has become the primary site for diagnosticswith the ncpn-berries group. The industry heavily relies on our servicesfor both conventional and high throughput sequencing diagnostics withseven berries companies (propagators/ producers) using the center. As weexpand our portfolio to therapeutics we will be able to offer cleanplants to the industry using the newly developed protocol that relies onhigh throughput sequencing to assess the heath status of the plants. Weexpect to run 20 HTS runs, 6,000 pcrs and 12,000 elisas/year during theduration of the project. The virus-clear up facility will be functionalat the beginning of the project and will be able to accept at least 15PLANT accessions in the genera fragaria, rubus and vaccinium for cleanup this first year. This project support the U.S. Berry industry byincreasing availability of virus-tested clean propagative plantmaterial.