FABI News
9 Dec 2018
FABI and CABI jointly host the first Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer Workshop in Africa
6 Dec 2018
First publications celebrated
The Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) celebrated the first publication of a paper in an ISI-rated scientific journal by a postgraduate student from the work of either their PhD or MSc at a party on 26 November.
6 Dec 2018
Hat trick for FABI researchers
FABI Director Professor Bernard Slippers has joined Prof Mike Wingfield and Prof Pedro Crous on the list of highly cited researchers in the field of Plant and Animal Sciences for 2018.
5 Dec 2018
University of Pretoria Community Engagement photographic competition – winning photos by FABIans
The University of Pretoria had a University-wide (staff and students) photographic competition with the topic of "Community Engagement”.
5 Dec 2018
Runlei Chang rounds off a baker’s dozen of prestige seminars at FABI in 2018
Runlei Chang delivered the last prestige seminar of the year at FABI on 3 December, bringing the number of PhD theses completed at the Institute in 2018 to 13.
Research Features
The use of genome data to characterize species and elucidate relationships, particularly between problematic taxa, has become routine practice in bacteria. Recently, researchers from FABI joined in an international effort to describe two novel genera and characterize these within the larger context of the important bacterial group Burkholderia.
A PhD student in FABI, Runlei Chang, has discovered and described 19 new fungal species from China as part of the research for his thesis. These fungi are all associated with conifer-infesting bark beetles and their mites and belong to well-known genera such as Ophiostoma and Leptographium.
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.
Plastids play an integral role in wood formation, and yet they are routinely ignored in the study of xylogenesis in forest trees. Desre Pinard and Dr Eshchar Mizrachi have published a review highlighting the unique biology of plastids in wood, suggesting that a new type of plastid, the xylopast, exists.
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.
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.
An aggressive ambrosia beetle and its fungal symbiont that has the potential to kill many tree species, were recently discovered in South Africa. This pest was detected on London Plane trees in the KwaZulu-Natal National Botanical Gardens, Pietermaritzburg. It has since been confirmed in Durban, Hartswater, Bloemfontein, George, Knysna and Johannesburg.
Workshops & Symposia
1-5 October 2018
5-9 Nov 2018
Advanced Phylogenetics
Workshop 1
2018
New Publications
Ebinghaus M, Maier W, Wingfield MJ. (2018) New host associations and a novel species for the gall-inducing Acacia rust genus Ravenelia in South Africa. MycoKeys (43):1-21.
10.3897/mycokeys.43.25090
Lee SR, Lee D, Yu JS, Benndorf R, Lee D-S, Huh J, de Beer ZW, Kim YH, Beemelmanns C, Kang KS, Kim KH. (2018) Natalenamides A–C, Cyclic Tripeptides from the Termite-Associated Actinomadura sp. RB99. Molecules 23(11)
10.3390/molecules23113003
Liu FF, Li GQ, Roux J, Barnes I, Wilson AM, Wingfield MJ, Chen SF. (2018) Nine novel species of Huntiella from southern China with three distinct mating strategies and variable levels of pathogenicity. Mycologia
10.1080/00275514.2018.1515450 
McTaggart AR, Duong TA, Le VQ, Shuey LS, Smidt W, Naidoo S, Wingfield MJ, Wingfield BD. (2018) Chromium sequencing: the doors open for genomics of obligate plant pathogens. BioTechniques 65(5):253-257.
10.2144/btn-2018-0019
De Beer ZW, Paap T. (2018) The spread of shothole borer beetles in South Africa is proving tough to control. The Conversation
https://bit.ly/2Dl46ia
Coetzee MPA, Wingfield BD, Wingfield MJ. (2018) Armillaria root-rot pathogens: Species boundaries and global distribution. Pathogens 7(3):83.
10.3390/pathogens7040083
Aylward J, Wingfield BD, Dreyer LL, Roets F, Wingfield MJ, Steenkamp ET. (2018) Genomic overview of closely related fungi with different Protea host ranges. Fungal Biology
10.1016/j.funbio.2018.10.001
Aylward J, Roets F, Dreyer LL, Wingfield MJ. (2018) Teratosphaeria stem canker of Eucalyptus: two pathogens, one devastating disease. Molecular Plant Pathology
10.1111/mpp.12758
Palmer M, Venter SN, Coetzee MPA, Steenkamp ET. (2018) Prokaryotic species are sui generis evolutionary units. Systematic and Applied Microbiology
10.1016/j.syapm.2018.10.002
Vivas M, Rolo V, Wingfield MJ, Slippers B. (2018) Maternal environment regulates morphological and physiological traits in Eucalyptus grandis. Forest Ecology and Management 432(15):631-636.
10.1016/j.foreco.2018.10.016
Mlonyeni XO, Wingfield BD, Greeff JM, Hurley BP, Wingfield MJ, Slippers B. (2018) Population variation in traits of Deladenus siricidicola that could influence the biocontrol of Sirex noctilio in South Africa. International Journal of Pest Management 64(4):324-332.
10.1080/09670874.2017.1421327
Simpson MC, Martin Coetzee, Magriet van der Nest, Mike Wingfield, Brenda Wingfield. (2018) Ceratocystidaceae exhibit high levels of recombination at the mating-type (MAT) locus. Fungal Biology
10.1016/j.funbio.2018.09.003
Benndorf R, Guo H, Sommerwerk E, Weigel C, Garcia-Altares M, Martin K, Hu H, Küfner M, De Beer ZW, Poulsen M, Beemelmanns C. (2018) Natural products from Actinobacteria associated with fungus-growing termites. Antibiotics 7(3):83.
10.3390/antibiotics7030083
Fru FF, Steenkamp ET, Wingfield MJ, Roux J. (2018) High genetic diversity of Fusarium circinatum associated with the first outbreak of pitch canker on Pinus patula in South Africa. Southern Forest: a Journal of Forest Science
10.2989/20702620.2018.1496312
Bose T, Wingfield MJ, Roux J, Vivas M, Burgess TI. (2018) Community composition and distribution of Phytophthora species across adjacent native and non-native forests of South Africa. Fungal Ecology 36:17-25.
10.1016/j.funeco.2018.09.001
Nel WJ, Duong TA, Wingfield MJ, Wingfield BD, Hammerbacher A, De Beer ZW. (2018) Heterothallism revealed in the root rot fungi Berkeleyomyces basicola and B. rouxiae. Fungal Biology 122(11):1031-1040.
10.1016/j.funbio.2018.08.006
Baron S, Van der Merwe NA, Maritz-Olivier C. (2018) The genetic relationship between R. microplus and R. decoloratus ticks in South Africa and their population structure. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 129:60-69.
10.1016/j.ympev.2018.08.003
Chang R, Duong TA, Taerum SJ, Wingfield MJ, Zhou XD, Yin M, De Beer ZW. (2018) Ophiostomatoid fungi associated with the spruce bark beetle Ips typographus, including 11 new species from China. Persoonia 42:50-74.
10.3767/persoonia.2019.42.03
Jami F , Marincowitz S, Slippers B, Wingfield MJ. (2018) New Botryosphaeriales on native red milkwood (Mimusops caffra). Australasian Plant Pathology
10.1007/s13313-018-0586-4
Estrada-de los Santos P, Palmer M, Chávez-Ramírez B, Beukes C, Steenkamp ET, Briscoe L, Khan N, Maluk M, Lafos M, Humm E, Arrabit M, Crook M, Gross E, Simon MF, Bueno dos Reis F, Whitman WB, Shapiro N, Poole PS, Hirsch AM, Venter SN, James EK. (2018) Whole Genome Analyses Suggests that Burkholderia sensu lato Contains Two Additional Novel Genera (Mycetohabitans gen. nov., and Trinickia gen. nov.): Implications for the Evolution of Diazotrophy and Nodulation in the Burkholderiaceae. Genes 9(8):389.
10.3390/genes9080389