FABI News
21 Oct 2020
The Hans Merensky Chair in Avocado Research hosts its annual student presentation day
20 Oct 2020
National monitoring of Eucalyptus pests and their biological control agents
19 Oct 2020
Inspection of trees dying in the Hennops river valley
15 Oct 2020
Prof. Wilhelm de Beer receives the SAIF Distinguished Forestry Award
Congratulations to Prof. Wilhelm de Beer who was awarded this year’s Distinguished Forestry Award by the Southern African Institute of Forestry (SAIF).
14 Oct 2020
Harvesting Phytophthora pathogenicity trials in the KZN midlands
During the week of 5 October and three months after these inoculations, Tanay, along with FABIans Josephine Queffelec and Matthew Jackson, harvested this trial with the assistance of Sappi's scientific and non-scientific staff members.
Research Features
A doctoral study in FABI confirms for the first time the presence of Xylosandrus crassiusculus, a polyphagous ambrosia beetle and its fungal symbiont, Ambroseilla roeperi, in three provinces in South Africa. The authors warn that this beetle species could be a threat to native and plantation trees.
A review on invasive gall-forming wasps that threaten non-native Eucalyptus plantations by researchers in the TPCP appears in Agricultural and Forest Entomology. They profile several species of likely Australian origin that have established on non-native Eucalyptus plantations globally and discuss various challenges to their management.
A study in the TPCP confirms the identity of seven novel fungal species associated with Dendroctonus valens, the red turpentine beetle. The study follows on surveys on the fungal associates of the beetle in China and North America. Results from this work appear in Persoonia.
A postdoctoral study in the TPCP describes two novel Huntiella species in the African clade, bringing the number of known species in the genus to 31. Though closely related, the two species display different mating systems. Outcomes from this study appear in the journal MycoKeys.
A review of the invasion history and global management strategies of Eucalyptus snout beetles in the Gonipterus scutellatus species complex by researchers in the TPCP appears in the Journal of Pest Science.
In a collaborative venture with Dr Jos Houbraken (Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, the Netherlands), Prof. Cobus M Visagie, Dr Neriman Yilmaz (both from FABI) and others have recently completed and published a major study updating the taxonomy of the Eurotiales.
A study in the Forest Molecular Genetics (FMG) Programme at FABI interrogates the benefits of implementing genomic selection for growth and wood quality traits in an established Eucalyptus grandis breeding programme in South Africa. Outcomes from this study appear in an article.
The first study on alternative weed and cultivated hosts of Spongospora subterraneaf. sp. subterranea (Sss), in southern Africa identifies two species as ideal trap crops for rotation with potatoes. The study also introduces three new families to the known hosts of Sss in the region.
A consortium of microbiologists from around the globe, FABI included, is pushing for an overhaul in how scientific names are assigned to uncultivated bacteria and archaea. Despite their ecological, agricultural and medical importance, these organisms traditionally have not been recognized by the international body governing the nomenclature of prokaryotes.
Professor Cobus Visagie is a researcher in the Applied Mycology group at FABI. One of the group’s research goals is to discover fungal diversity in South Africa, and Cobus’ research is strongly focussed on the economically important genera Aspergillus, Penicillium and Talaromyces.
Postdoctoral research by Dr Norman Muzhinji in the Potato Pathology Programme at the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) sheds light on the genetic structure and diversity of Spongospora subterranea f. sp. subterranea in four potato-growing regions in South Africa, providing valuable insights on its management.
An MSc study by Kira Lynn in the RGE-FABI Tree Health Programme at the University of Pretoria has described a new Fusarium species, Fusarium rekanum sp. nov., associated with Euwallacea perbrevis, an ambrosia beetle species infesting Acacia crassicarpa plantations in Riau, Indonesia.
FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Andi Wilson has established a CRISPR-Cas9-based genome editing protocol for use in Huntiella omanensis, a tree-inhabiting fungus belonging to the Ceratocystidaceae family.
Research undertaken as part of a PhD study by Molly Malefo at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences and Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute sheds more light on the role of protease inhibitors in plants under drought stress.
The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) has funded a postdoctoral research project dedicated to monitoring plant health in botanical gardens and arboreta across South Africa. Two postdoctoral Fellows at the University of Pretoria’s Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute have held these fellowships.
The first comprehensive study mapping the distribution and genetic diversity of invasive Eucalyptus insect pests in sub-Saharan Africa confirms the presence of five major foliage-feeding species in 14 countries. The results of this study have implications on the quarantine, future research and management of these pests on the continent and beyond.
Dr Joey Hulbert broke new ground when he became the first candidate at the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute to complete a PhD study incorporating citizen science. Citizen science is an approach that involves members of the public as active participants in scientific research.
FABI technology unravels the genetics behind fungal genome evolution The RIPper is a bioinformatics tool for the for quantifying genome-wide RIP mutations in fungal genomes. The strength of this software lies in the automation of laborious techniques to study the mutation process called Repeat-Induced Point mutations (RIP). The RIPper applies these technique
With the increased availability in genome data, inferences regarding evolutionary relationships among taxa can now be performed on a genome-wide scale. But it is widely accepted that not all parts of such massive datasets support the same evolutionary hypothesis. Because of this, a group of researchers at FABI recently investigated the effect of this.
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.
The Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer is an ambrosia beetle native to Southeast Asia. In 2017 this pest was detected in South Africa. Its presence has since been confirmed in all provinces except Limpopo. The beetle has a symbiotic relationship with the fungus Fusarium euwallaceae, which causes branch die-back and death of susceptible trees.
New Publications
Li GQ, Slippers B, Wingfield MJ, Chen SF. (2020) Variation in Botryosphaeriaceae from Eucalyptus plantations in YunNan Province in southwestern China across a climatic gradient. IMA Fungus 11(22)
10.1186/s43008-020-00043-x
Paap T, Wingfield MJ, Burgess TI, Hulbert JM, Santini A. (2020) Harmonising the fields of invasion science and forest pathology. NeoBiota 62:301-332.
10.3897/neobiota.62.52991 
Gevers CR, Dittrich-Schroder D, Slippers B, Hurley BP. (2020) Interactions between hymenopteran species associated with gall-forming wasps: the Leptocybe invasa community as a case study. Agricultural and Forest Entomology
10.1111/afe.12413
Queffelec J, Allison JD, Greeff JM, Slippers B. (2020) Influence of reproductive biology on establishment capacity in introduced Hymenoptera species. Biological Invasions
10.1007/s10530-020-02375-6
Liu QL, Li JQ, Wingfield MJ, Duong TA, Wingfield BD, Crous PW, Chen SF. (2020) Reconsideration of species boundaries and proposed DNA barcodes for Calonectria. Studies in Mycology
10.1016/j.simyco.2020.08.001
Bush SJ, Slippers B, Dittrich-Schröder G, Hurley BP. (2020) Host specificity tests reveals new host of a global biological control agent Psyllaephagus bliteus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). African Entomology 28:238-248.
10.4001/003.028.0238
Migliorini D, Luchi N, Pepori AL, Pecori F, Aglietti C, Maccioni F, Munck I, Wyka S, Broders K, Wingfield MJ, Santini A. (2020) Caliciopsis moriondi, a new species for a fungus long confused with the pine pathogen C. pinea. MycoKeys 73:87-108.
10.3897/mycokeys.73.53028
Schwitalla JW, Benndorf R, Martin K, Vollmers J, Kaster AK, De Beer ZW, Poulsen M, Beemelmanns C. (2020) Streptomyces smaragdinus sp. nov., isolated from the gut of the fungus growing-termite Macrotermes natalensis. IJSEM
10.1099/ijsem.0.004478
Wilken PM, Kharwar RN, Lumbsch HT, Navathe S, Pérez CA, Ramírez-Berrutti N, Sharma R, Sun Y, Wingfield BD, Huhndorf S, Duong TA, Aylward J, Chand R, Grewe F, Lane FA, Sinha S, Ametrano C, Distefano I, Divakur PK, Wingfield MJ. (2020) Draft genome sequences of Ambrosiella cleistominuta, Cercospora brassicicola, C. citrullina, Physcia stellaris and Teratosphaeria pseudoeucalypti.. IMA Fungus 11(19)
10.1186/s43008-020-00039-7
Teresia N. Macharia, Daniel Bellieny-Rabelo. (2020) Transcriptome Profiling of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Responses to Root-Knot Nematode (Meloidogyne javanica) Infestation during A Compatible Interaction.
10.3390/microorganisms8091443
O'Donnel K, Al-Hatmi AMS, Aoki T, Brankovics B, Cano-Lira JF, Coleman JJ, de Hoog GS, di Pietro A, Frandsen RJN, Geiser DM, Gibas CFC, Guarro J, Kim HS, Kistler HC, Laraba I, Leslie JF, Lopez-Berges MS, Lysøe E, Meis JF, Monod MM, Proctor RH, Rep M, Ruiz-Roldan C, Šišić A, Stajich JE, Steenkamp ET, Sumerall BA, van der Lee TAJ, van Diepeningen AD, Verweij PE, Waalwijk C, Ward TJ, Wickes BL, Wiederhold NP, Wingfield MJ, Zhang N, Zhang SX. (2020) No to Neocosmospora: Phylogenomic and Practical Reasons for Continued Inclusion of the Fusarium solani Species Complex in the Genus Fusarium. mSphere 5(5)
10.1128/mSphere.00810-20.
Dittrich-Schröder G, Hurley BP, Wingfield MJ, Nahrung HF, Slippers B. (2020) Invasive gall-forming wasps that threaten non-native plantation-grown Eucalyptus: diversity and invasion patterns. Agricultural and Forest Entomology
10.1111/afe.12402
Mostert-O'Neill MM, Reynolds SM, Acosta JJ, Lee DJ, Borevitz JO, Myburg AA. (2020) Genomic evidence of introgression and adaptation in a model subtropical tree species, Eucalyptus grandis. Molecular Ecology 00(00):1-14.
10.1111/mec.15615
Welgemoed T, Pierneef R, Read DA, Schulze SE, Pietersen G, Berger DK. (2020) Next generation sequencing reveals past and current widespread occurrence of maize yellow mosaic virus in South Africa. European Journal of Plant Pathology 158(1):237-249.
10.1007/s10658-020-02070-1
Nel WJ, De Beer ZW, Wingfield MJ, Duong TA. (2020) The granulate ambrosia beetle, Xylosandrus crassiusculus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae), and its fungal symbiont found in South Africa. Zootaxa 4838(3):427-435.
10.11646/zootaxa.4838.3.7
Benndorf R, Schwitalla JW, Martin K, De Beer ZW, Vollmers J, Kaster AK, Poulsen M, Beemelmanns C. (2020) Nocardia macrotermitis sp. nov. and Nocardia aurantia sp. nov., isolated from the gut of the fungus-growing termite Macrotermes natalensis. IJSEM
10.1099/ijsem.0.004398
Mbenoun M, Wingfield MJ, Misse AC, Roux J. (2020) Selective feeding behaviors illuminate patterns of sap beetle associations with ophiostomatoid fungi. Symbiosis
10.1007/s13199-020-00705-9
Procter M, Nel WJ, Marincowitz S, Crous PW, Wingfield MJ. (2020) A new species of Raffaelea from beetle-infested Leucaena leucocephala. Fungal Systematics and Evolution 6:305-314.
10.3114/fuse.2020.06.16
Bose T, Wingfield MJ, Roux J, Vivas M, Burgess TI. (2020) Phytophthora species associated with roots of native and non-native trees in natural and managed forests. Microbial Ecology
10.1007/s00248-020-01563-0
Chang R, Duong TA, Taerum SJ, Wingfield MJ, Zhou XD, De Beer ZW. (2020) Ophiostomatoid fungi associated with mites phoretic on bark beetles in Qinghai, China. IMA Fungus :15.
10.1186/s43008-020-00037-9
Vacant positions
M.Sc. position: Use of entomopathogens in integrated pest management of forest insects pests
A M.Sc. position is available in FABI to investigate the use of entomopathogens for the control of insect pests in plantation forests. The use of entomopathogens as biopesticides has been effective in controlling various insect pests of economic concern. The study aims to characterize the diversity of B. bassiana and other entomopathogens in South Africa and determine their efficiency against selected insect pests of plantation trees. In addition, different application methods will be evaluated and the effect on relevant biological control agents will be assessed.
Click here for more information about eligibility and how to apply.
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