Cereal Foliar Pathogen Research

FABI News

News Archive

1 Jun 2023

Post TPCP field trip connects academic research and training to industry needs

Leaders in the TPCP joined international visitors on a post-TPCP field trip to visit forestry and research partners, and reflect on the outcomes of the meeting and their relevance to the situation faced in the plantations and nurseries of industry partners.

31 May 2023

EPPI team performs the biggest impact evaluation from field inoculations of the canker pathogen <i>Chrysoporthe austroafricana</i> on different <i>Eucalyptus</i> genotypes

EPPI team performs the biggest impact evaluation from field inoculations of the canker pathogen Chrysoporthe austroafricana on different Eucalyptus genotypes

Members of the EPPI research group travelled to Kwambonabi in the KwaZulu-Natal province to evaluate and harvest one of the biggest in-field inoculations with the pathogen Crysoporthe austroafricana.

31 May 2023

FABI GRP promote Diagnostic clinic at the NAMPO Harvest Day

The Grain Research Programme pest and disease extension and diagnostic clinic team attended NAMPO and exhibited the services offered by the clinic.

30 May 2023

CFBE research team participates in the NAMPO Harvest Day

Two members of the Crop Floral Biology and Environments research team in FABI, showcased their group’s work at Grain SA’s NAMPO Harvest Day 2023.

30 May 2023

FABI engagement with smallholder farmers from Venda

FABI PhD candidate Phophi Nethononda visited smallholder farmers from Dzindi and Tshiombo irrigation schemes in Venda in the Limpopo province as part of her project.

‹ ›

FABI Events

01 June 08h30

Student Seminars

05 June 08h30

Monday Morning Meeting

08 June 08h30

Student Seminars

12 June 08h30

Monday morning meeting

FABI in a nutshell

Research Features

Archive

Da Vinci's Yeast: FABIans Prof. Cobus Visagie, Dr Neriman Yilmaz, and their collaborators have recently described and named a newly discovered yeast species of the famous Italian painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect Leonardo da Vinci.

The potential economic impact of the PSHB invasion in South Africa has been calculated to be a massive R275 billion over the next ten years, if nothing is done to stop the spread of this invasive beetle. Researchers from FABI collaborated with Stellenbosch University ecologists and economists to model the unmitigated economic impact of this invasion.

A recently published paper in the journal Current Forestry Reports documents a collaboration between an international team of forest pathologists and invasion scientists. Led by Dr Trudy Paap, the authors present a framework for conceptualizing and managing invasive forest pathogens.

A recently published review article by Dr Andi Wilson in a special issue of the journal 'Microbiology & Molecular Biology Reviews' provides details of the genes that are essential to the sexual cycle in filamentous Ascomycete fungi and further describes their functions in a variety of model and non-model species.

Penicillium section Canescentia re-evaluated and five new species described from the fynbos biome in South Africa.

In November 2019, the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology hosted a workshop on ‘Frameworks used in Invasion Science’. The workshop led to a NeoBiota special issue on this theme, and includes a review by FABI researchers and international colleagues, exploring frameworks in the context of forest pathology.

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.

‹ ›

Pathosystems currently under study include grey leaf spot in maize (GLS) caused by Cercospora zeina, and northern corn leaf blight (NCLB) in maize and sorghum caused by Exserohilum turcicum.

Grey leaf spot in Africa is caused by the fungal pathogen Cercospora zeina. This widespread and destructive pathogen causes millions of rands worth of loss to maize yields every year. In collaboration with Professor Dave Berger (UP) and Professor Burt Bluhm (University of Arkansas), the research group is focussed on functional genomics of virulence factors of C. zeina. Previously characterised Dothideomycete as well as C. zeina specific effector genes, responsible for disease in maize, are identified in the recently assembled African C. zeina genome, and effector function is established through creating knock-out fungal mutants. Following maize infection, we monitor maize plants' response to these mutant strains compared to wild type C. zeina strains. In addition, we have constructed strains of C. zeina containing the green fluorescent protein in order to elucidate the exact mode of infection of this fungus using confocal microscopy, and determine whether it is similar to the closely related maize pathogen C. zeae-maydis.

Northern corn leaf blight (NCLB), caused by the fungus Exserohilum turcicum, is a devastating leaf foliar pathogen that occurs in most maize growing areas throughout the world. As part of a long term project to identify and isolate virulence factors from maize foliar fungal pathogens, CFPR is interested in characterising E. turcicum isolates from South Africa using simple sequence repeats (SSRs) as molecular markers. Setosphaeria turcica, the telomorph form of E. turcicum, has been sequenced as part of a Dothidiomycete sequencing project at the Joint Genome Initiative (http://www.jgi.doe.gov/genome-projects/). We used this sequence to identify single strand repeats, and design primers to conserved flanking regions for use in molecular characterisation of South African E. turcicum isolates. In addition, we are working together with Dr Maryke Craven from the ARC Grain Crops Institute in order to develop molecular markers to identify the various races of E. turcicum present in South African maize fields.

Workshops & Symposia

Archive

The FABI International Seminar Series

The 34<sup>th</sup> Annual Meeting of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) and DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Plant Health Biotechnology (CPHB)

The 34^th Annual Meeting of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme

The 33<sup>rd</sup> Annual Meeting of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) and DSI/NRF Centre of Excellence in Plant Health Biotechnology (CPHB)

The 33^rd Annual Meeting of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme

The NGRP research day 2022

New Publications

Katumanyane A, Slippers B, Wondafrash M, Malan AP, Hurley BP. (2023) Mechanisms behind differential white grub host susceptibility to entomopathogenic nematodes. Nematology 10.1163/15685411-bja10253

Suzuki H, Marincowitz S, Rodas CA, Wingfield BD, Wingfield MJ. (2023) First report of two Chrysoporthe species, Chrysoporthe doradensis and Chrysoporthe colombiana sp. nov. from Henriettea seemannii pathogenic to Eucalyptus in Colombia. Mycological Progress 22(44) 10.1007/s11557-023-01891-8

Si H, Su Y, Wang Y, Bose T, Chang RL. (2023) The effects of co‑culture on the expression of selected PKS genes in the lichenized fungus Xanthoparmelia taractica. Mycological Progress 22:41. 10.1007/s11557-023-01894-5

Hough B, Steenkamp ET, Wingfield B, Read DA. (2023) Fungal viruses unveiled: A comprehensive review of Mycoviruses. Viruses 15(5):1202. 10.3390/v15051202

Paap T, Santini A, Rodas CA, Granados GM, Pecori F, Wingfield MJ. (2023) Myrtus communis in Europe threatened by the pandemic and South African strains of the myrtle rust pathogen Austropuccinia psidii (Sphaerophragmiaceae, Pucciniales). NeoBiota 84:41-46. 10.3897/neobiota.84.95823

Liu QL, Wingfield MJ, Duong TA, Wingfield BD. (2023) Leaf blight in a Eucalyptus plantation caused by Calonectria spp. originating from both leaves and soils. Research Square 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2529138/v1

Wilson AM, Wingfield MJ, Wingfield BD. (2023) Structure and number of mating pheromone genes is closely linked to sexual reproductive strategy in Huntiella. BMC Genomics 24:261. 10.1186/s12864-023-09355-9

Solís M, Hammerbacher A, Wingfield MJ, Naidoo S. (2023) A robust disease scoring method to screen Eucalyptus for resistance against the aggressive leaf blight pathogen, Teratosphaeria destructans. Plant Disease:1418 - 1424. 10.1094/PDIS-06-22-1347-RE

Pal E, Allison JD, Hurley BP, Slippers B, Fourie G. (2023) Life History Traits of the Pentatomidae (Hemiptera) for the Development of Pest Management Tools. Forests 14(5) 10.3390/ f14050861

Nel WJ, Slippers B, Wingfield MJ, Yilmaz N, Hurley BP. (2023) Efficacy of commercially available Entomopathogenic agents against the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer in South Africa. Insects 14(4) 10.3390/insects14040361

5
10
20
30
50
100
Export to RIS

Twitter

Tweets by Fabiteam1