The 17th Australasian Plant Pathology Society Conference in 2009 marks
the 40th anniversary of the Society. The conference offers participants an
opportunity to reflect on the achievements in a time of unprecedented
scientific discovery about the nature of plant disease. It is also a time
to explore the future directions of our profession amidst the challenges
posed by emerging diseases, food security, climate change, water, trade,
bioterrorism, consumer safety and preferences, and the opportunities
presented to agriculture and horticulture by biofuels, phytomedicines and
leisure activities.
The conference theme "Plant Health Management: an integrated
approach" addresses these challenges from three angles - fundamental
discovery, the application of these discoveries to practical problems and
the adoption of research. Keynote speakers will lead plenary sessions
focused on each theme, with concurrent sessions based around offered
papers and posters, with a supporting program of special interest
workshops and field trips.
The conference will be held from 29 September-1 October 2009 in the
Civic Centre of Newcastle, a bustling, historic, post-industrial seaside
city 150 km north of Sydney. Newcastle boasts easy access from all major
cities, a range of accommodation, exciting cultural activities, superb
beaches, and other nearby attractions including the Hunter Valley,
Barrington Tops National Park and more superb coastal scenery.
For more information please visit www.apps2009.org.au
and register your interest. We look forward to meeting you in Newcastle,
NSW, Australia.
"Latest Information on Plant Diseases"
from ProMED-Plant
The moderator Dr Dagmar Hanold of ProMED-Plant advises that plant
diseases have recently been given a separate box on the Pro-MED main web
page. The box is headed "Latest Information on Plant Diseases"
and it lists only the plant posts. This has vastly improved ease of access
to PRO/PL posts without having to mount an archive search and has been
received very favourably. It also makes it easier for potential new plant
subscribers to assess whether these reports meet their needs. See the main
web page: http://www.promedmail.org
.
Dagmar would like to encourage ISPP members to check this out and to
consider subscribing to the plant list (subscription is free). In 2008, a
total number of 218 plant reports was posted including 10 reports of new
pathogens or diseases, 41 first country reports of known pathogens, and 15
reports of diseases due to undiagnosed pathogens. There is also an
extensive searchable archive for tracking particular pathogens or crops.
She would also like ISPP members to be aware that personal observations
of disease outbreaks and other contributions are always most gratefully
received.
An introduction to the ProMED-Plant and to Dagmar is in a Newsletter
at: http://www.isppweb.org/nljun07.asp
. Her contact details are: Dr Dagmar Hanold, Plant Virology & Plant
Moderator ProMED-mail, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The
University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond SA 5064, Australia. Tel:
+61-8-8303-7307; Fax: +61-8-8303-7109. E-mail: dagmar.hanold@adelaide.edu.au
.
Contribute Ideas to a Brief History of ISPP
The history of ISPP is being prepared for inclusion on the ISPP Web
Pages. If you have information, stories, highlights or references please
send them to Charlie Delp at charliedelp@verizon.net
.
Rhizoctonia Subject Matter Committee
The new Chair of the ISPP Rhizoctonia Subject Matter Committee is
Professor Suha Jabaji, Plant Science Department, Faculty of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Road,
Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada. suha.jabaji@mcgill.ca
.
Suha replaces Professor Stephen Neate, North Dakota State University,
Fargo, ND, USA. stephen.neate@ndsu.edu
.
Plant Virus Epidemiology Committee
The Chair of the ISPP Plant Virus Epidemiology Committee, Professor
Alberto Fereres, reported to ISPP Vice-President Wafa Khoury, about
several important recent and current activities:
1. Creation of a web-site at: http://www.isppweb.org/ICPVE/
.
2. Production of a special issue on Virus Epidemiology to be published
in the Elsevier Journal "Virus Research" in about March 2009.
3. Planning and early organization of the XIth International Plant
Virus Epidemiology Symposium at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA, on
20-24 June 2010.
Professor Fereres's address is Director del Instituto de Ciencias
Agrarias (ICA), CSIC, C/Serrano 115 dpdo, 28002 Madrid, Spain. afereres@ccma.csic.es
.
Report on Phytophthora, Pythium and related genera
workshop
The 3rd International Phytophthora, Pythium and related genera workshop
was presented in association with ICPP2008 in Turin, Italy, from 23-24
August 2008. It was subtitled "Integration of Traditional and Modern
Approaches for Investigating the Taxonomy and Evolution of the Oomycetes".
Dr Z Gloria Abad provided information for this item. Her address is:
Lead Scientist, Molecular Biologist/Plant Pathologist, Molecular
Diagnostics Lab (MDL), Plant Safeguarding and Pest Identification (PSPI),
National Identification Services (NIS), USDA-APHIS, BLDG 580, BARC-E,
Powder Mill Road, Beltsville, MD 20705. USA. Gloria.Abad@aphis.usda.gov
.
Ninety four scientists from 28 countries participated in the event
which was organized by Gloria Abad (as above) and Jennifer Phillips from
Zarb Consulting, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, with Chiara Demaria and
Valentina Parenti of Valentina Communications as local organizers.
Collaborators for running the workshop were Tammy Kolt and Eileen Joseph
and Rajya Shukla, John Rascoe, Selena Rice and Robin Wilcox from two
sections of USDA, APHIS, Plant Safeguarding and Pest Identification,
Beltsville, MD, USA. There was also an international Scientific Committee.
Gloria Abad chaired the workshop with Frank Martin of USDA,
Agricultural Research Service, Salinas, CA, USA, and David Cooke, Scottish
Crop Research Institute, Dundee, UK, as co-chairs.
The workshop received 32 oral presentations and 40 posters in seven
sessions that covered Systematics and phylogenetics; Evolution and
population genetics; Nomenclature of present taxa and putative new
species; Morphological and molecular taxonomic methods; Ecology,
biogeography, and epidemiology; Advances in systems for identification and
diagnostics; Integrating morphological and molecular tools for a unified
phylogeny and classification. There was also a special session discussing
presentations, posters and relevant topics on Oomycetes.
Keynote speakers were: Gloria Abad; Clive Brasier, Forest Research
Agency, Alice Holt Lodge, Farnham, Surrey, UK; Arthur de Cock,
Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Utrecht, NETHERLANDS; Michael
Coffey, World Phytophthora Collection, University of California,
Riverside, CA, USA; David Cooke (as above); Seogchan Kang, Pennsylvania
State University, Pennsylvania, PA, USA; Andre Levesque, Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, CANADA; Frank Martin (as above); Paul Tooley,
USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Fort Detrick, MD, USA; Hermann
Voglmayr, University of Vienna, Rennweg, Wien, AUSTRIA.
Participants showed their excitement in receiving contributions from
colleagues bringing great experience gained from a vast amount of
research. The combination of participating in the workshop and the
ICPP2008, and the enjoyment of the tourist activities, made the
experiences in Turin, Italy, truly memorable for all involved
The next workshops are being planned for 2010 in the USA, and for 2013
in Beijing, China, in association with the 10th International Congress of
Plant Pathology.
From the Southern African Society for Plant
Pathology (SASPP)
The SASPP web-site highlights a report by Professor Teresa Coutinho of
the University of Pretoria on work which has achieved the first genome
sequence of a plant pathogen in Africa. This work is joint with Professor
Fanus Venter of the same University and is in collaboration with the
Scottish Crops Research Institute, UK. See: http://saspp.org/content/view/123/1/
.
The research is on Pantoea ananatis, the causal agent of
bacterial blight and die-back of young eucalypts in South Africa. It has
also been found to cause a stalk disease of maize locally and a variety of
other symptoms on onions, melons, pineapple, rice and sudan grass
elsewhere in the world. There are also reports of it causing human
infections. Little is known about its ecology and biology as causes of
these diseases. On eucalypts, it is a common epiphyte on leaves, and high
relative humidity and warm temperatures favour disease development.
It was decided to investigate the genome of the bacterium in order to
help in understanding its ecology, biology and pathology. The genome of a
virulent strain of P. ananatis from eucalypts was then sequenced.
The genome is 4.7 megabases in size. It was put through a computer system
which annotated known genes. The sequences were compared to those of
genomes of other bacteria in the same family. A number of pathogenicity
factors were identified and their function is being investigated. There
are several unique elements in the genome of the strain of P. ananatis
and these may provide more understanding of how the bacterium functions as
a pathogen of both plants and humans.
Professor Coutinho's address is: Department of Microbiology and Plant
Pathology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI),
University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Forest Education Opportunities
The World Forestry Center (WFC) is a non-profit forestry education
organization based in Portland, Oregon, USA. See: http://www.worldforestry.org/
.
WFC announces professional development opportunities in the USA for
educators and natural resource professionals. The web-site gives
information about partial fellowship awards and needs for some
self-funding.
Some award schemes had closing dates in February 2009 but the WFI
International Fellowship Program accepts applications year-round. The WFI
Fellowship, with a term of 6-12 months, brings professionals in natural
resources to conduct a practical research project at the World Forestry
Center. In addition to projects, Fellows participate in weekly field
trips, interviews and site visits to forestry organizations in
north-western USA, research labs, universities, public and private
timberlands, trade associations, mills and corporations. The Fellowship is
a unique opportunity to learn about sustainable forestry from the Pacific
Northwest forestry sector, and to work with colleagues from around the
world. Fellowships are open to any country, and there is a matching grant
from the Harry A Merlo Foundation. Over 70 Fellows from 23 countries have
participated to date. Applications are accepted year-round. See: http://wfi.worldforestry.org/fellowship-1.htm
.
A Stink Bug and Cotton Disease
According to an alert in the 23 January issue of CropBiotech, the USA
Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have
solved the mystery of a disease that can destroy up to 15 percent of a
cotton crop in the south-eastern United States. Ten years ago, scientists
reported an emerging seed rot disease that was discolouring seeds and
darkening fibres in cotton bolls in the south-eastern states, making the
crops unmarketable.
Gino Medrano and colleagues from the ARS Cotton Pathology Research Unit
discovered that this disease is caused by bacteria transmitted by the
southern green stink bug (Nezara viridula). The stink bug's bite
creates a pathway for the bacteria to enter the boll and damage it. By
infecting bolls at various stages, they found damage levels depending on
when infections occurred in the fruiting cycle and on how long infection
spreads before harvest. Bolls infected three weeks after flowering are
resistant and undamaged. Younger bolls remain susceptible. See: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2009/090121.htm
.
CropBiotech Net web pages are at http://www.isaaa.org/kc
.
Coming Events
International Forest Biosecurity Conference, incorporating the 6th
International Forest Vegetation Management Conference, in Rotorua, New
Zealand. 16-20 March 2009. See: http://forestbiosecurity.com/
. Contact: Dr Brian Richardson, General Manager, Ensis Forest Biosecurity
and Protection, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua, New Zealand. Phone:
+64-7-343-5516; Fax: +64-7-343-5333; Mobile: 021-913-221.
Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) 2009 Technical Workshop in
Sonora, Mexico. 17-19 March 2009. Note that there will be a registration
fee of $US300. Contact: BGRI@cornell.edu
.
FEBS Workshop 'Adaptation Potential in Plants' at the Gregor Mendel
Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Vienna, Austria. 19-21 March 2009.
Contact: maria.siomos@gmi.oeaw.ac.at
. See: www.gmi.oeaw.ac.at/febs2009
.
7th World Potato Congress "Nourishing Our Future" in
Christchurch, New Zealand. 22-25 March 2009. See: http://www.wpcnz.org.nz/
.
Greenhouse 2009: Climate Change and Resources, in Perth, Western
Australia. 23-26 March 2009. See: http://www.greenhouse2009.com
.
International Conference on Plant Virology to be held at the Harrogate
International Center, UK. 1-3 April 2009. See: www.aab.org.uk/contentok.php?id=73&basket=wwsshowconfdets
.
The Second European Ramularia Workshop, Edinburgh 2009 - a new disease
and challenge in Barley Production in Edinburgh, UK. 7-8 April 2009. See: www.aab.org.uk
.
VI International Postharvest Symposium in Antalya, Turkey. 8-12 April
2009. Contact: erkan@akdeniz.edu.tr
. See: http://www.postharvest2009.com/
.
Advances in epidemiology and control of rusts at Science and Advice for
Scottish Agriculture (SASA), Edinburgh, UK. 22-23 April 2009. See: http://www.aab.org.uk/page.php?start=184&conf=78
.
The 5th International Conference on Biopesticides: Stakeholders'
Perspective (ICOB-V 2009) in New Delhi, India. 26-30 April 2009.
Contact: icob5.biopest@nic.in . See: http://www.icob5.nic.in
.
3rd International Symposium on Crop Plant Resistance to Biotic and
Abiotic Factors: Current Potential and Future Demands in Berlin, Germany.
14-16 May 2009. Contact: dpg@phytomedizin.org
. See: www.dpg-bcpc-symposium.de
.
Meeting on "Plant Abiotic Stress - from signaling to
development" in Tartu, Estonia. 14-17 May 2009. Contact: Dr Hannes
Kollist inpas@frens.ee . Phone:
+372-737-4814. See: http://www.ut.ee/inpas/
.
8th International PGPR Workshop in Portland, Oregon, USA. 17-22 May
2009. See: www.capps.wsu.edu/pgpr
.
Training Program: Integrated Pest Management and Food Safety in
Wageningen, The Netherlands. 18 May-12 Jun 2009. Contact: training.wi@wur.nl
.
14th International Sclerotinia Workshop in Wilmington, North Carolina,
USA. 31 May-4 June 2009. See: http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/sclerotinia_conference/index.html
.
SFP National Congress (in French) in Lyon, France. 8-11 June 2009.
Canadian Phytopathological Society Annual General Meeting in Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada. 22-25 June 2009. See: www.cps-scp.ca
.
XXIth International Symposium on Virus and Virus-Like Diseases of
Temperate Fruit Crops and XIIth International Symposium on Small Fruit
Virus Diseases in Germany. 5-10 July 2009. See http://www.phytomedizin.org/index.php?id=193
. Source: Professor Dr Wilhelm Jelkmann Wilhelm.Jelkmann@jki.bund.de
