ISPP Committee on Fusarium

Report for 2008-2013 to the ISPP Executive Council, August 2013

This Committee is also part of the International Commission on the Taxonomy of Fungi (ICTF), as ICTF Subcommission of Fusarium Taxonomy (www.fungaltaxonomy.org/subcommissions).

Members:

Ulf Thrane, Chair of ISPP Committee on Fusarium (2008-2013)

David Geiser, Vice-chair of ISPP Committee on Fusarium (2008-2013)

Takayuki Aoki (Japan); Sofia Chulze (Argentina); Brett Summerell (Australia); John Leslie (USA); Antonio Logrieco (Italy); Cees Waalwijk (the Netherlands); Kerry O’Donnell (USA)

During the last five years there has been significant activity among Fusarium scientists resulting in more than 7,500 scientific publications. Additionally, there have been published numerous local case reports from all over the world.

            The ISPP Committee on Fusarium organizes an international workshop every five year in conjunction with the ICPP; however many more meetings during the last five years did cover Fusarium. A global EU-sponsored initiative, MycoRed (www.mycored.eu) has held more meetings and workshops every year since 2009, always with a focus on Fusarium. Similarly, there are other initiatives like the US Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative (www.scabusa.org), The European Fusarium Seminars, as well as seminar series in Asia and South America that help in conveying recent results to users all over the world. The ISPP Committee members participated in many of these meetings.

            The movement in fungal nomenclature towards a single name for pleomorphic fungi has brought up serious discussions among scientists from all fields dealing with Fusarium, including plant pathologists. Opinion papers have been published and there is a general agreement that the most common Fusarium pathogens will keep their Fusarium name - see Geiser et al 2013, Phytopathology 103:400-408; Rossman et al. 2013, IMA Fungus 4: 41-51. The ISPP Committee is active in this debate.

The 11^th International Fusarium Workshop was held in Hangzhou 20-23 August 2013 with more than 80 participants.

Download the guide book and abstracts

As of now Prof. David M. Geiser is chairing the ISPP Committee on Fusarium. A new vice-chair will be appointed in the near future based on an internet poll. Nominees have been found.