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.
This ISPP Subject Matter
Committee (SMC) has been revised under a new Chair, Dr Klaus Stenzel of
Bayer Crop Science, Monheim, Germany. For details and to see the
new web-site for the Committee, go to the ISPP SMC pageand then follow the link for Chemical
Control.
ISPP thanks Professor Ulrich Gisi lately of Syngenta,
Basle, Switzerland, for his contributions as previous Chair of the
Committee.
Global Work on Rust Diseases of Wheat
The Borlaug Global Rust
Initiative (BGRI) has a new web-site. It is designed to support all
members of the BGRI in their work to eradicate wheat rust diseases. It
features a directory of wheat workers and international projects, a
collection of relevant literature, screening data from east Africa and
information about the BGRI. Included is “Rust in the News”,
which is updated monthly about rust diseases in wheat. An important
event listed there is the BGRI Technical Workshop from 30-31 May 2010 in
St Petersburg, Russia.
The BGRI was founded by
the late Dr N E Borlaug to replace and widen the Global Rust Initiative
established as an outcome of the May 2005 Expert Panel report about stem rust race
Ug99 in Kenya and Ethiopia and the potential for its impact in
neighbouring regions and beyond. The BGRI has the objective of
systematically reducing the world’s vulnerability to the three rust
diseases of wheat (stem, yellow or stripe, and leaf rusts). It also
advocates/facilitates the evolution of a sustainable international
system to contain the threat of these rusts and to continue the
enhancements in productivity required to withstand future global threats
to wheat.
As part of the BGRI, FAO also has started a new
web-site “Rust
SPORE”. At first the site will track the
advance of Ug99, giving information from national surveillance teams in
cooperating countries about its status and new strains that develop from
it. The web-site will eventually cover other wheat rust threats.
Emerging Viral Problems in Tomato Crops
An international review about “Emerging Viral
Diseases of Tomato Crops” has been published recently. See Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions23 (5) 539-548 for May 2010.
The authors from Belgium, Israel and The Netherlands are respectively
Inge M Hanssen,
Moshe Lapidot, and
Bart P H J Thomma.
Many viruses infecting tomato have been described already but new
virus-based diseases keep affecting the crop. One of these is Pepino
mosaic virus now a most important factor in the crop internationally.
Another newly described one is Tomato torrado virus. New Tospoviruses
are spreading rapidly over many regions. White fly transmitted viruses
including Begomoviruses are moving into new areas. Factors involved in
the emergence and spread may be international travel and trading in
plant materials, plus changes in climate making new places favourable.
Strategies for minimizing the problems involve use of genetic resistance
and crop hygiene and cleanliness.
The
first observation of torrado disease was in 2001 in Murcia, Spain, which
is the location of a research group with M A Aranda who have just
published in
Annals of Applied Biology156 (3) 401-410. Their paper
“Epidemics of Tomato
torrado virus, Pepino mosaic virus and Tomato chlorosis virus in
tomato crops: do mixed infections contribute to torrado disease
epidemiology?” can be downloaded. They review the earlier work in Spain
and then elsewhere and the identification of the causal virus and give
further observations on the disease, before going on to their
experiments on the effects of combined
inoculations on resulting symptoms.
Some
Molecular Advances in Host-Pathogen Relationships
Research in Wageningen,
The Netherlands, shows that some now well-known resistance genes in
tomato encode proteins that recognise key molecules for virulence from
fungi specialised to cause disease in other plants. Thus a receptor-like
protein in tomato not only recognises a product of the tomato pathogen
Cladosporium fulvum but also
homologous products of the fungus
Mycosphaerella fijiensis, a banana pathogen, and also of pathogens
of other plants. A lead for breeding for resistance is suggested by transferring such
receptor-like proteins into distantly related plant species, presumably
combined to deter rapid evolution of virulence in the pathogens. See
Stergiopoulos, van den Burg, Oekmen, Beenen, van Liere, Kema G and De
Wit (2010). Tomato Cf resistance proteins mediate recognition of cognate
homologous effectors from fungi pathogenic on dicots and monocots.
Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,
107 (16) 7610-7615.
A long-standing question in host-pathogen relationships
is how organisms such as rust and powdery mildew fungi avoid host cell
damage while growing biotrophically into and beside the cells. A similar
question is posed in trying to understand how some pathogens such as
Colletotrichum lindemuthiamum
and Phytophthora infestans
manage hemibiotrophy in their host plants. These organisms are
biotrophic for a period before becoming necrotrophic. Do pathogens evade
or suppress host reactions during their biotrophic phase of growth in
live host cells?
This question is addressed with respect to
P. infestans in Kelley, Lee, Damasceno, Chakravarthy, Kim, Martin
and Rose (2010)
The Plant Journal62, 357–366. They have
evidence that the pathogen
secretes an effector protein which acts as a suppressor of host
cell death. The conferring gene is specifically expressed at the
transcriptional level during biotrophic growth within the host. Using
transient expression assays, they show that its product suppresses the
action of cell death-inducing effectors from the pathogen. These
effectors are expressed during the later necrotrophic growth.
Effectors as products of pathogenic fungi were reviewed by
De Wit, Mehrabi, Van Den Burg and
Stergiopoulos (2009) in
Molecular Plant Pathology10 (6) 735–747. The review provides a useful link between
the pioneering work of Flor on the gene-for-gene hypothesis and the
recent gaining of knowledge about effector proteins. The literature on fungal effectors and some
pathogen-associated molecular patterns is covered, and includes work on
some pathogens for which no gene-for-gene relationship with their hosts
has been established.
Recent developments in effector biology of plant pathogenic fungi and
Oomyctes are reviewed in a 2010 paper by a team with Kamoun in
Cellular Microbiology12
(6) 705-715. Effectors are seen as key pathogenicity determinants. The
review focuses on the most interesting features of a representative set
of these effectors and highlights recent findings. It also lists and
describes all the linear motifs reported to date in effector proteins.
A
New International Disease Concern for Wheat
Attention is drawn to
wheat blast disease in a posting of
ProMED-mail
on 21 May 2010. The disease is caused by a
Magnaporthe sp. and was
identified first in Brazil in 1985, since when it has spread in South
America causing great losses at times in some regions. The pathogen was
thought at first to be a strain derived from the
Magnaporthe sp. causing rice blast disease, but it is probably a
different species originating from local wild grasses. It has also
occurred on barley.
Symptoms on wheat and barley include bleaching of ears,
shrivelled kernels, and no seed production after severe infections. The
disease is favoured by humid and warm conditions, and it has potential
to cause epidemics
on wheat in subtropical regions of Southeast Asia, Africa and the
Mediterranean. The web-site gives links to pictures of the symptoms and to a report
based on the first international meeting on the disease held in Brazil
in early May. An earlier statement from CIMMYT and a paper from Japan on
a molecular analysis of the wheat blast pathogen in South America are
given in other links. Taxonomic rearrangements among Magnaporthe spp. are being
considered.
Communication and Knowledge Sharing
Most readers of this Newsletter will have experience in the writing and
communication skills needed within Plant Pathology. There are many
outside, or perhaps even inside, the specialization who may wish to draw
on its knowledge for application in the wider world but may not have had
opportunities to develop the required skills.
The ICT-KM Program of CGIAR
promotes and supports the use of information and communications
technology (ICT) and knowledge management (KM) to improve the
effectiveness of the CGIAR system's work on behalf of people in
developing countries.
In 2008 the ICT-KM Program’s Institutional Knowledge
Sharing project led by CIAT undertook the design and delivery of a
series of successful knowledge sharing workshops. Simone Staiger is an
agricultural knowledge sharing specialist, based at CIAT, Colombia, and
together with Nancy White developed a 3 phase event (online,
face-to-face, online) with the ambition to help CGIAR and partner staff
to reflect, learn and practice knowledge sharing principles, methods and
tools. Learning to share
knowledge for global agricultural progress is a now accepted paper written by a group of
participants in order to document, share and analyse the experience.
Books from ICPP2008 now published
As foreshadowed in the
ISPP Newsletter for September 2009, four books now have been published
based on some of the proceedings of the International Congress of Plant
Pathology (ICPP2008) in Torino, Italy, in August 2008. They are as a
series under the heading “Plant Pathology in the 21st Century”.
The titles of the books
are: Recent Developments in Management of
Plant Diseases; Post-harvest Pathology; The Role of Plant Pathology in
Food Safety and Food Security; Knowledge and Technology Transfer for
Plant Pathology.
Full
details including the editors of the books and the authors and titles of
the chapters can be seen by following from the web-page of the publisher Springer.
Grapevine Trunk Diseases Workshop, Chile
Dr Laura Mugnai, Chair of the ISPP Subject Matter
Committee on Grapevine Trunk Diseases (and International Council on
Grapevine Trunk Diseases), reports here on its 7th Workshop in Chile, on
17-21 January 2010. This occurred at a regular interval of 2 years after
those of Siena, Italy (1999), Lisbon, Portugal (2001), Christchurch, New
Zealand (2003), Stellenbosch, South Africa (2004), Davis, California
(2006) and Florence, Italy (2008).
The Workshop was perfectly organized by Dr Jaime Auger
Saavedra and Professor Marcela Esterio (President, Chilean Society for
Plant Pathology) of the Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas de la
Universidad de Chile. The workshop was held in Santa Cruz, Valle de
Colchagua, a major wine-producing area in central Chile. We had the
opportunity to appreciate the wonderful hospitality of Chilean people
just before the country was hit by the disastrous earthquake. Our
thoughts go to them with best wishes for a quick as possible recovery.
The workshop was most successful and attended by 120
participants. The perfect organization and most friendly atmosphere that
characterize all the ICGTD workshops provided very fruitful discussion
and information exchange with situation updates on grapevine trunk
diseases. Not only esca pathogens such as Phaeomoniella and
Phaeoacremonium, but also Botryospheriaceous and Diatrypaceous fungi and
a range of other fungal species, were associated with different symptoms
on grapevine trunks and cordons.Eighty papers were presented in four sessions: Pathogen
Identification and Characterization, Disease Detection and Losses,
Host-Pathogen Interactions and Disease Management.
The abstracts of the papers presented were just
published in Phytopathologia Mediterranea April issue, Vol 49 2010 and
hopefully a dedicated issue will appear in the same journal late this
year with reviews and research papers based on the workshop. All the
previous workshops abstracts and fully peer reviewed papers on grapevine
trunk diseases published after each meeting are available at the same
web-site. Those interested in more information on the activities of this
Subject Matter Committee can download the pdf of the abstracts and read
full reports of the meeting on the ICGTD website.
Bacteria and Plant Disease – two new resources from APS
Plant Diseases Caused by Bacteria: An Image Database and Educational Resource. This CD is edited by Milton N Schroth, Eva I Hecht-Poinar
and Anne M Alvarez. It is a comprehensive assembly of bacterial disease
photographs presenting different stages of disease development. There
are over one thousand high quality digital photographs. They can be
browsed or searched by host common or scientific name, disease name,
pathogen, pathogen synonym, general symptom, or keyword. The CD also
contains illustrated and detailed narratives on 34 major bacterial
diseases, among them some of the world’s most serious. This resource
will be valuable for teaching identification and diagnosis. Images can
be exported for specific uses, allowing for use in PowerPoint™
presentations and handouts. References are included. The CD is PC compatible and will
become available in July 2010.
Plant Bacteriology is a book by Clarence I
Kado soon to be released as a reference and textbook. It will provide
fundamental knowledge including important historical events that gave
birth to the field as well as its recent advances. It includes an
extended discussion on the molecular mechanisms of virulence and a
chapter on epidemiology and disease control.It should serve as a comprehensive resource for
university teachers, research specialists, and those in diagnostics and
extension. There are twelve Chapters plus Index in about 360 pages with
48 colour and 16 black and white images. It will become available in
August 2010.
Contact
APS Press by
e-mail or phone 1-800-328-7560 from the USA and Canada or
+1-651-454-7250 from elsewhere.
Science and Sustainable Food Security – a recent book
This is the title of a book by M S Swaminathan
published by the World Scientific Publishing Company. It comprises
papers based on a series of lectures given during the Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore, centenary year (2008-2009) by the author. He is
a plant geneticist by
training and his contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India
led to his being widely referred to as a scientific leader of the green
revolution movement. The book has 436 pages and was published in December
2009.
The contents are: Food Security and Economic Development; How Science is
Applied to Solve Problems of Poverty, Drought and Famine; Science and
Food Security; How Science is Used to Generate Efficient and Optimal
Agricultural Outputs; Food Security and Ecological Balance; How the
Gains of Green Revolution are Impacted by Climate Change; How Science
Will be Helpful in Ensuring Sustainable Food Security; Green Revolution
to Ever-Green Revolution — A Roadmap.
A bleeding canker disease
is damaging horse chestnut trees in northwest Europe and thereby in the
UK threatening the traditional game of conkers. Very little is known
about the origin and biology of the disease, but more information has
been published in the 19th April issue of the on-line Public
Library of Science about the pathogen. The paper is
Green S, Studholme D J, Laue B E, Dorati F et al. (2010)Comparative Genome Analysis Provides
Insights into the Evolution and Adaptation of Pseudomonas syringae
pv. aesculi on Aesculus hippocastanum.PLoS ONE5 (4):e10224.
The nucleotide sequences of seven commonly used
marker genes were used to investigate the phylogeny of three strains
isolated recently from bleeding stem cankers on horse chestnut in
Britain. On the basis of these sequences alone, the strains were
identical to the type-strain which was isolated from leaf spots on horse
chestnut in India in 1969. The phylogenetic analyses also showed that
the strains
belong to a distinct clade of P. syringae
pathovars adapted to woody hosts.
Leads to “PMN”, “Images of Plant Diseases” and “Crops for the Future”
Crops
for the Future is
an organisation dedicated to the promotion of neglected and
under-utilised plant species as a contribution to humanity. It covers
the whole range of under-utilised species, food and non-food crops. It
is an initiator and facilitator, not implementer of research and
development activities.
Acknowledgements
I thank Peter Williamson for a template for
aiding the production of the Newsletter, and Elaine Davison and Greg
Johnson for their input.
Coming Events
XVIth Biennial Workshop on the Smuts and Bunts in Lethbridge, Alberta,
Canada. 14-18 June 2010. Contact:
denis.gaudet@agr.gc.ca.
2010 Canadian Phytopathological Society joint Annual Meeting and
Conference with the Pacific Division of the American Phytopathological
Society. 20-23 June 2010. See:
http://cps-scp2010.ubcconferences.com/.
BITs 1st World Congress of Virus and
Infections-2010 “Voice of Virologists” in Busan, South Korea.
31 July-3 August 2010.
See: http://www.bitlifesciences.com/wcvi2010/.
International Advances in Plant Virology in Arnhem, The Netherlands.
5-7 September 2010.
See:http://www.aab.org.uk/
XXI Phytopathology Peruvia Congress in Tarapoto, San Martin,
Peru.
5-10 September 2010. See:
www.aspefi.org/congreso/
3rd AAB Symposium on Potato Cyst Nematodes in Newport, UK.
14-15 September 2010. See:http://www.aab.org.uk/
IUFRO Workshop "Methodology of Forest
Insect and Disease Survey in Central Europe" in Freiburg im Breisgau,
Germany. 20-23 September 2010. See:
http://www.biotic-risks-2010.de
11th European Fusarium
Seminar – “Mycotoxins, Taxonomy, Pathogenicity and Host Resistance” in
Radzikow, near Warsaw, Poland. 20-24 September 2010.
Contact: e.czembor@ihar.edu.plort.goral@ihar.edu.pl
International Workshop on Biological Control of Postharvest
Diseases: “Challenges and Opportunities” in Leesburg, Virginia, USA.
9th Conference of the European Foundation for Plant Pathology & 6th
Congress of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Fitopatologia jointly in Évora,
Portugal. 15-18 November 2010. See:
http://www.efpp10.uevora.pt/
2nd International Conference
on Huanglongbing in Orlando, Florida, USA. 10-14 January 2011. See:
IRCHLB.org
47th Congress of
the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology atBerg-en-Dal, Kruger
National Park, South Africa. 23–26 January 2011. See: www.saspp.co.za
Contact:
quenton.kritzinger@up.ac.za
International Congress of Post Harvest Pathology in Lleida,
Catalonia, Spain.
18th Biennial Australasian Plant Pathology Meeting and 4th Asian
Conference for Plant Pathology at the Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin,
Northern Territory, Australia. 27-29 April 2011. See:
www.appc2011.org
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. e-mail:
president@cspp.org.cn See:
http://www.icppbj2013.org/
APS Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
9-13 August 2014. See:
http://www.apsnet.org
29th International Horticulture Congress in Brisbane,
Australia. August 2014. See: http://www.ihc2014.org
