29th Annual Meetings
of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme &
DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology
FABI News
13 May 2018
FABI excellence shines through at UP’s Autumn Graduations
More than 30 postgraduate students affiliated with FABI were awarded their degrees at the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences’ Autumn Graduation ceremonies in April.
10 May 2018
FABI Team surveys Johannesburg gardens for PSHB infestations
A team of 13 FABIans conducted a survey to determine infestation levels of the Polyphagous Shothole Borer on street and garden trees in the Johannesburg suburb of Hurlingham on 4 May.
9 May 2018
FABIan wins ASPB Travel Award
8 May 2018
FABI hosts Spanish marine microbiologist
30 Apr 2018
The impact of the Polyphagous Shothole Borer in South Africa explained in a public seminar at FABI
FABI, together with the CIB (DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology), hosted a public seminar on the disastrous effect of the PSHB and its fungus on trees in South Africa.
Research Features
An aggressive ambrosia beetle and its fungal symbiont that has the potential to kill many tree species, were recently discovered in South Africa. Dr Trudy Paap, postdoctoral fellow in FABI, found a lane of infested plane trees in the vicinity of the KZN Botanical Gardens in Pietermaritzburg.
Comparative genomics is shaping our notion of what fungal species are. Based on current data, these unique evolutionary units are separated from one another by boundaries that are porous under certain conditions. This affects our expectations regarding their population biology and evolution, and our strategies for recognizing and controlling them.
Approaches for characterizing metabolic potential from genomic sequences have previously been predicted to be useful in the description of bacterial taxa. Dr Marike Palmer, has recently employed these approaches for identifying biological processes contributing to the divergence of bacteria with a variety of lifestyles.
Two research papers from FABI were selected as cover stories in two consecutive issues of the international journal, Plant Pathology. The journal is published by Wiley for the British Society of Plant Pathology.
Workshops & Symposia
14-16 May 2018
21-25 May 2018
Advanced Phylogenetics
Workshop 1
2018
New Publications
Clasen FJ, Pierneef RE, Slippers B, Reva O. (2018) EuGI: a novel resource for studying genomic islands to facilitate horizontal gene transfer detection in eukaryotes. BMC Genomics 19:323.
10.1186/s12864-018-4724-8
De Beer ZW, Marincowitz S, Duong TA, Wingfield MJ. (2018) (2592) Proposal to conserve Endoconidiophora fagacearum (Bretziella fagacearum, Ceratocystis fagacearum) against Chalara quercina (Thielaviopsis quercina) (Ascomycota: Sordariomycetes: Microascales). Taxon 67:440-440.
10.12705/672.14
Kanzaki N, Tanaka SE, Ito M, Tanaka K, Slippers B, Tabata M. (2018) Some additional bionomic characters of Deladenus nitobei. Nematology
10.1163/15685411-00003168
Barnes I, Fourie A, Wingfield MJ, Harrington TC, McNew DL, Sugiyama LS, Luiz BC, Heller WP, Keith LM. (2018) New Ceratocystis species associated with rapid death of Metrosideros polymorpha in Hawai`i. Persoonia 40:154–181.
10.3767/persoonia.2018.40.07
Dittrich-Schröder G, Hoareau TB, Hurley BP, Wingfield MJ, Lawson S, Nahrung HF, Slippers B. (2018) Population genetic analyses of complex global insect invasions in managed landscapes: a Leptocybe invasa (Hymenoptera) case study. Biological Invasions
10.1007/s10530-018-1709-0
van den Berg N, Hartley J, Engelbrecht J, Mufamadi Z, Mavuso Z, van Rooyen Z. (2018) First Report of White Root Rot caused by Rosellinia necatrix on Persea americana in South Africa.. Plant Disease
10.1094/PDIS-10-17-1637-PDN
Viljoen E, Odeny DA, Coetzee MPA, Berger DK, Rees DJG. (2018) Application of Chloroplast Phylogenomics to Resolve Species Relationships Within the Plant Genus Amaranthus. Journal of Molecular Evolution 86(3-4):216-239.
10.1007/s00239-018-9837-9
Pham NQ, Barnes I, Chen SF, Pham TQ, Lombard L, Crous PW, Wingfield MJ. (2018) New species of Cylindrocladiella from plantation soils in South-East Asia. MycoKeys 32:1-24.
10.3897/mycokeys.32.23754
Fourie A, Wingfield MJ, Wingfield BD, van der Nest MA, Loots MT, Barnes I. (2018) Inheritance of phenotypic traits in the progeny of a Ceratocystis interspecific cross. Fungal Biology :1-13.
10.1016/j.funbio.2018.03.001
Sex: birds do it, bees do it - and fungi do it too. Here’s how, and why it matters
Nagel J, Wingfield MJ, Slippers B. (2018) Evolution of the mating types and mating strategies in prominent genera in the Botryosphaeriaceae. Fungal Genetics and Biology 114:24-33.
10.1016/j.fgb.2018.03.003
Siphathele Sibanda, Stanford Kwenda, Collins K. Tanui, Divine Shyntum, Teresa Coutinho, Lucy Moleleki. (2018) Transcriptome profiling reveals the EanI/R quorum sensing regulon in Pantoea ananatis LMG 2665T. Genes 9(3):148.
10.3390/genes9030148
Wilson A, Van der Nest M, Wilken P, Wingfield M, Wingfield B. (2018) Pheromone expression reveals putative mechanism of unisexuality in a saprobic ascomycete fungus. PLOS One 13(3):e0192517.
10.1371/journal.pone.0192517 
De Beer ZW. (2018) A tiny beetle and its deadly fungus is threatening South Africa’s trees. The Conversation (27 February)
http://bit.ly/2F0J2Ln
Fourie G, van der Merwe NA, Wingfield BD, Bogale M, Wingfield MJ, Steenkamp ET. (2018) Mitochondrial introgression and interspecies recombination in the Fusarium fujikuroi species complex. IMA Fungus 9(1):37-48.
10.5598/imafungus.2018.09.01.04
Palmer M, Steenkamp ET, Coetzee MPA, Avontuur JR, Chan WY, Van Zyl E, Blom J, Venter SN. (2018) Mixta gen. nov., a new genus in the Erwiniaceae. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
10.1099/ijsem.0.002540
Van Wyk S, Wingfield BD, De Vos L, Santana QC, Van der Merwe N, Steenkamp ET. (2018) Multiple independent origins for a subtelomeric locus associated with growth rate in Fusarium circinatum. IMA Fungus 9(1):27-36.
10.5598/imafungus.2018.09.01.03
Pinard D, Mizrachi E. (2018) Unsung and understudied: plastids involved in secondary growth. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 42:30-36.
10.1016/j.pbi.2018.01.011
Abate BA, Slippers B, Wingfield MJ, Malan AP, Hurley BP. (2018) Diversity of entomopathogenic nematodes and their symbiotic bacteria in South African plantations and indigenous forests. Nematology
10.1163/15685411-00003144
Palmer M, Steenkamp ET, Coetzee MPA, Blom J, Venter SN. (2018) Genome-based characterization of biological processes that differentiate closely related bacteria. Frontiers in Microbiology 9:113.
10.3389/fmicb.2018.00113