News and announcements from all on any aspect of Plant Pathology are
invited for the Newsletter. Contributions from the ISPP Executive,
Council and Subject Matter Committees, Associated Societies and
Supporting Organisations are requested.
Entry of Effectors from Fungi and Oomycetes into Host Cells
A paper has become
available on-line from 23 July 2010, which claims a unifying mechanism
for the entry of effector proteins from pathogenic fungi and Oomycetes
into host cells. The authors are an international team under the
leadership of Brett Tyler of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, USA, and the paper is “External Lipid PI3P Mediates Entry of
Eukaryotic Pathogen Effectors into Plant and Animal Host Cells”
Cell142 (2) 284-295. It may open
new therapeutic approaches to combating pathogens.
Effectors included
those from the fungi Melampsora
lini, Leptosphaeria maculans and
Fusarium oxysporum and from the Oomycete
Phytophthora sojae. Soybean
cells were used for the plant assays. Effector proteins are considered
to be secreted by the pathogens after they contact the hosts. The
Oomycetes are known to produce effector proteins with n-terminal RXLR
motifs. A discovery here is that fungi produce effectors with a
functional variant of this motif. The key finding is that the
phospholipid PI3P on the outer surfaces of the plasma membranes of plant
cells binds to a small sequence of amino acids in the amino acid chain
of the effectors from both fungi and Oomycetes, thus enabling the
effectors to enter the cells. Entry involves lipid raft-mediated
endocytosis. Blocking the attachment of effectors to the PI3P was stated
to prevent entry of the effectors. Surprising was the discovery that the
evolutionarily distinct fungi and Oomycetes used the same procedure.
A general account of
the work and its significance, including quotes from Brett Tyler may be
found on the web-site of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and
Agriculture,
who together with the National Science Foundation of the USA supported
the research. The account states that previously there was knowledge of
how bacterial effectors were injected into plant cells through the
membrane, but that the current work made the discovery of the binding
lipid and that fungal and Oomycete effectors used it to bind to the
membrane and then enter the cells.
Chinese Society for Plant Pathology (CSPP) Congress and AGM
The 9th Member
Congress of the Chinese Society for Plant Pathology (CSPP) concurrent
with the 2010 Annual Meeting of CSPP was held in Xiamen, Fujian
Province, China, from 3-6 July 2010.
The Theme of the
Congress was “Technology Innovation and Plant Pathology”. It
attracted more than 1100 delegates. There were one-and-a-half days of
plenary session, with 15 invited speakers from Rothamsted Research, UK;
Ohio State University; University of California, Riverside; Michigan
State University; Purdue University; United States Department of
Agriculture; Seoul National University; National Chung Hsing University;
National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing; China Agricultural
University; Northwest Agricultural and Forestry University; Chinese
Academy of Sciences and Zhejiang University. There were 7 concurrent
sessions including plant pathogenic fungi and fungal diseases, plant
viruses and viral diseases, plant pathogenic bacteria and bacterial
diseases, plant nematodes, biological control, chemical control and
plant disease resistance. 146 speakers made exciting and informative
presentations in concurrent sessions. In addition, there were more than
50 poster presentations. 439 abstracts or papers were published in the
Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of Chinese Society for Plant Pathology
(2010).
A general election was
held during the congress. The 9th Council of CSPP was elected by secret
ballot among 108 members. The new Council held its first meeting and
elected 36 executive members. President, Vice President,
Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General were then elected.
Professor Ze-Jian Guo from China Agricultural University was elected as
President. Professors Jia-Lin Yu, zong-Hua Wang, Xi-Feng Wang, Hui-Min
Wang, Da-Qun Liu, Jin-Rong Xu, Bao-Du Li, Bao-Shan Chen, Xue-Ping Zhou,
Xiao-Bo Zheng and Ming-Sheng Hou were elected as Vice-Presidents.
Professor Cheng-Gui Han was re-elected as Secretary-General.
Former President,
Professor You-Liang Peng, made a detailed report on previous work on
behalf of the 8th Council of CSPP. The congress not only summed up the
experience of the past, but also laid the foundation for future
development, while promoting the academic exchanges. It was a successful
meeting.
Dr Hui Li, CSPP
Secretariat
Does Plant Pathology need Plants that Glow when Infected?
Professor Triwidodo
Arwiyanto of Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, draws
attention to a posting on 8 July 2010 on the
Science and Development Network.
The report of genetic
engineering of tobacco creating plants that changed colour or produced a
fluorescent glow when infected with pathogens was interesting to
Triwidodo. He found it, however, to be controversial work for plant
pathology which is a highly developed discipline, not needing this type
of research. Much is known of particular symptoms caused by infecting
agents. There are archives of plant disease symptoms in many
universities and research centres around the world. For him, it was far
more important to teach farmers and others in agribusiness how to
identify individual diseases in plants as early as possible, so that
they can decide on any specific treatment required.
Triwidodo
asked that the report should be disseminated through this newsletter,
and that readers should respond with their opinions.
The Introduced Rust Fungus Potentially Pathogenic on much Natural
Vegetation of Australia
This photograph of the myrtle rust pathogen
Uredo rangelii was taken by Dr
Angus Carnegie of Forest Biosecurity and Resource Assessment, Industry &
Investment NSW, Australia, and reproduced here with his permission. It
shows the pathogen on leaves of
Agonis flexuosa cv “Afterdark” on a property on the Central Coast
region of NSW. There are mature bright yellow uredinia on young leaves,
shoot tips and young stems.
A full paper by Angus
Carnegie and associates is now
on-line
and is open access. It is “Uredo rangelii, a taxon in the guava rust
complex, newly recorded on Myrtaceae in Australia”
Australasian Plant Pathology39 (5) 463–466 (August 2010).
The paper describes the detection of the rust at several nearby
locations and the reasons for identifying it as
Uredo rangelii from the morphology of the urediniospores. The DNA
sequence of the rDNA ITS region, however, was indistinguishable from
that of Puccinia psidii sensu
lato.There is, therefore,
closeness and near co-identity between this rust fungus in Australia and
the rust fungi on the Myrtaceae in South America, the Caribbean, Hawaii
and Japan. It remains to be seen what happens next and the extent of any
effect on Australian natural vegetation, much of which is in the
Myrtaceae.
PestNet
This is an e-mail
network which provides a service in the Pacific region, SE Asia and
elsewhere giving advice and information in plant protection. It is free
to members, and has been running for ten years. It often includes the
identification and management of plant pests, linking with international
specialists. Topics often include identification of pests from digital
images, alerts about outbreaks, management of problems and quarantine
interceptions
There are now some 900
subscribers who not only seek help but also exchange ideas and
solutions, thus creating a network of shared practical knowledge about
crops, insects, pathogens and weeds. There are members from government
and non-government organizations, universities, and the private sector,
farming and student bodies.
The PestNet web-site
guides the contribution of information and provides a catalogue of
classified summaries of messages and a search mechanism. It also informs
those wishing to join about the procedure to be followed. According to
the site, PestNet has five moderators who attempt to prevent irrelevant
messages and to make sure that requests are answered. Their contact
details are on the web-site and they are:-
Graham Jackson, Chair
and now based in Sydney, Australia, has worked with many organizations
in the Pacific and Asian regions. He has special interests in plant
pathogens, tissue culture, tropical root crops and plant genetic
resources.
Wilco Liebregts, now
based in Fiji, has worked on IPM projects in many Pacific Island
countries and is a specialist in biological control and training in the
region.
Bob Macfarlane, in New
Zealand, has worked in entomology and quarantine with many regional
organizations and programs, including on the use of new technologies in
plant protection in the Pacific and Asian regions.
Matairangi Purea, with
the FAO in Samoa, has worked in horticulture and plant protection.
Banpot Naprompeth, of
the SE Asian loop of BioNET-INTERNATIONAL, has worked on biological
control of insect pests and agricultural weeds.
Euroscience and the Torino Declaration
Euroscience was
founded in 1997 by the research community in Europe to provide an open
forum for debate on science, technology and research policies and to
strengthen links between science and society. It also strives for a
greater role for research and to influence cognate policies in the EU.
It represents all disciplines, public sector bodies, universities,
research institutes, business and industry. It is open to research
professionals, science administrators, policy makers, teachers, PhD
students, postdocs and generally to any citizen interested in science
and technology and their links with society. Euroscience has headquarters in
Strasbourg, France.
It holds biennial
Euroscience Open Forums (ESOF). The 2010 one in was in Torino, Italy,
and the next one will be in Dublin, Ireland. ESOFs aim to present
cutting edge developments from the natural sciences to the social
sciences and the humanities, and to stimulate public awareness of and
interest in science and technology. As part of fostering a European
dialogue on science and technology, a Torino Declaration 2010 was
presented recently at the General Assembly of Euroscience (ESOF2010)
in Torino, Italy. It is intended to influence decision making in the
European Community, but is also of general interest in showing a view of
the world from Europe.
The Torino Declaration 2010
The World and Europe
is in the midst of an unprecedented financial and economic turmoil as
well as facing challenges unique in human experience such as climate
change, energy and food crisis with a burgeoning World population.
Euroscience believes that the correct way to meet these complex
challenges is through global cooperation and a determined drive towards
knowledge-based economies and society. In short, Europe has to be a
major contributor towards the solution of the problems we are currently
facing, and this can only be done with the help of science and
innovation.
Europe’s only way
forward is to re-assert its role as a world leader and regain its
position as an innovative and leading player in science and technology,
building on its long tradition and expertise in educating and fostering
highly qualified researchers. The efforts of the last centuries to gain
this position are now at risk of being challenged not only by the USA,
but also faces new competition from emerging economies in Asia and South
America.
Euroscience urges the
European Union (European Council and European Parliament) through the
European Commission to monitor national research and educational
investments with the same determination that it is spending on
overseeing and tracking economic and financial parameters. This analysis
must provide the basis for determined pan-European actions to sustain
education, research and innovation.
Decision makers must
realize that time is running out fast. This is a plea from Euroscience
to European leaders and decision-makers to take their responsibility for
Europe to recover its leadership position and return to centre stage in
a fast moving and highly competitive world. The research community is
ready and eager to respond.
International News from the UK
The latest issue of
the
Newsletter
(Volume 62, Summer edition) of the British Society for Plant Pathology
(BSPP) carries several accounts of recent international meetings. Those
which have not been covered already in the ISPP Newsletter are mentioned
below. A request for teaching resources for ‘Gatsby
Plants’ through the Gatsby Charitable Foundation is also in the BSPP
Newsletter. They would be used in annual summer schools for UK
university students interested in the plant sciences, and for web-based
teaching in the area.
The 15thInternational Botrytis
Symposium
held in early June in Cadiz, Spain, is summarized by Molly Dewey who was
chair of the first session which was on Detection and Epidemiology. She
expressed surprise that estimating biomass of Botrytis
in planta rarely used
immunological Botrytis-Lateral Flow devices, which are commercially
available. Most presentations in other sessions were about fungicide
resistance and pathogen-host signaling.
The wider subject of a
Keystone Symposium in March 2010 was Receptors and Signaling in Plant Development and Biotic Interactions
(C2)
organized by Thomas Boller and Jen Sheen. This is reported on by Milena
Roux of the Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, UK. A recurring theme was the
connection between signaling related to development and defence.
The 16thInternational Cocoa
Research Conference
held in Bali, Indonesia, during November 2009 is described by Jayne
Crozier of CABI, Caribbean and Latin America. The theme was “towards
rational cocoa production and efficient use for a sustainable world
cocoa economy”. Diseases of importance in Latin America included frosty
pod rot caused by Moniliophthora
roreri, black pod caused by
Phytophthora palmivora and witches’ broom. Severe losses in Africa
were caused by P. megakarya and cocoa swollen shoot virus. Indonesia had severe
losses through vascular streak dieback (Oncobasidium
theobromae). The International Permanent Group for Cocoa Pests and
Diseases held its 6th International Seminar after the main
meeting.
The 12th
International Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildew Conference organized by
The European and Mediterranean Cereals Rusts Foundation
was held in Antalya,
Turkey, in October 2009 and is summarised by James Brown, who will become BSPP President in 2012.
A highlighted breakthrough was towards understanding durable resistance
and opening up new control methods. This comes from the cloning of a
wheat gene which confers field resistance to three rust diseases and
powdery mildew disease. The renewed threats to wheat caused by
yellow/stripe rust and stem rust diseases were emphasized at the
Conference. Updates on the threats can be followed through BGRI’s Rust in the News
and FAO’s Rust SPORE.
Mark Holderness on Communicating Agricultural Information
Plant
pathologist Dr Mark Holderness is the Executive Secretary of the Global
Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) and was one of the keynote
speakers in the opening session at the 2010 Congress of the
International Association of Agricultural Specialists in Montpelier,
France. He spoke about “Rethinking the way we look at agricultural
research”, with a major emphasis on making agricultural information
accessible, available and relevant to the needs of farmers. A video by
Mark is on a Global Conferences on Agricultural Research for Development
(GCARD)
site.
Mark began his working career in cocoa pathology in Papua New Guinea. He
now has worked in science related to international agricultural
development for 20 years. He became Director of Agriculture for CAB
International and then joined the FAO, before taking up the described
position with GFAR.
Sclerotinia Workshop in Brazil
Dr Jim Steadman, Chair
of the ISPP Sclerotinia Committee, advises about the first Brazilian
Sclerotinia Workshop to be held in Ponta Grossa – Parana in November
2010.
Dr Greg Johnson of
ISPP was asked by Professor A M Deshmukh, Microbiology, of the Dr
Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, Maharashtra,
India, and Professor Nimal Adikaram, Botany, of the University of
Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, to let members know about this conference. It is
entitled “Biotechnology for Better Tomorrow (BTBT-2011)” and will be
held in Aurangabad on 6-9 February 2011.
The goal is to bring
together researchers, managers, policymakers and others in the
scientific community and give them a forum for exchange of information
and discussion of the wide variety of topics related to microbial
biotechnology.
More information on the program and registration can be traced from the
web-site
www.bamu.net
From Denmark via USA and Mexico to Sweden and Norway
The feature article on APSnet
for July 2010 is by Richard J Zeyen and James V Groth, Emeritus
Professors in Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota, USA. It is
the remarkable story of Sir Bent Skovmand who may not be widely known in
plant pathology. From his native Denmark, he eventually pursued graduate
studies at the University of Minnesota, where he was mentored by E C
Stakman. He then had major roles in CIMMYT before becoming Director of
the Nordic Gene Bank in Alnarp, Sweden. He was knighted by the Queen of
Denmark in 2003, hence “Sir”. He had a major part in wheat improvement,
the preservation of diversity in crop germplasm and the development of
the seed vault on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. He was strongly
involved in the formation of the Svalvard International Seed Vault,
which was funded by a consortium of Nordic countries.
Update on Postharvest Biocontrol Workshop
Further to the announcement in the
July 2010 issue
of the ISPP Newsletter about the BARD and ISHS sponsored Postharvest
Biocontrol Workshop in Leesburg, Virginia, USA, in October 2010, the
second circular is now available from the
workshop web-site.
It provides details of the program and the processes for registration
and submission of abstracts and manuscripts. The proceedings will be
published as a volume of the ISHS journal
Acta Horticulturae.
10th Anniversary of Plant Management Network
Miles Wimer, Director,
invites organizations to join the
Plant Management Network
in celebrating ten years of its on-line publishing. It began with one
journal Plant Health Progress, but now has three additional journals
Crop Management, Forage and Grazinglands, Applied Turfgrass Science. It
provides Plant Disease Management Reports and Arthropod Management
Tests. There are also a
number of other products and services, including Focus on Potato, Focus
on Soybean and Focus on Agricultural Practitioners. It also offers free
access to its Newsletter to individuals.
The Network is jointly managed by the American Society of Agronomy, the
American Phytopathological Society (APS) and the Crop Science Society of
America, with a mission to enhance the health, management and production
of agricultural and horticultural crops.
18th Biennial Australasian Plant Pathology Meeting and 4th Asian
Conference for Plant Pathology at the Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin,
Northern Territory, Australia.
10th International Congress of Plant Pathology (ICPP2013) in Beijing,
China.
25-30 August 2013.
Contact: Professor You-Liang Peng, Department of Plant Pathology,
College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University,
Beijing 100193, PR China. Phone: +86-10-62733607; Fax: +86-10-62733607.
