FABI News
20 Jun 2025
Strengthening mycology in South Africa: FABI hosts NICD researchers
FABI recently hosted a meeting to establish linkages between medical mycologists and those working mainly on fungi in the environment.
19 Jun 2025
FABIans conquer the 2025 Comrades Marathon
FABI is proud of Steven Shange and Josias Letaoana who conquered the gruelling Comrades Marathon.
13 Jun 2025
Science, culture, and collaboration: Mycobiomics Meeting at FABI
International visitors attending the Mycobiomics meeting at FABI also had a chance to go on several tours on the UP campus and visit the Pilanesberg National Park.
12 Jun 2025
FABI hosts an international Mycobiomics meeting highlighting global advances in fungal research
FABI recently hosted 40 international researchers from seven countries, where the team celebrated a successful 'Mycobiomics' project.
10 Jun 2025
FABIans visit Kenya for a Mycobiomics expedition
Three FABIans represented FABI at a recent during a multinational- collaborative Mycobiomics field expedition in Kenya.
FABI in a nutshell
Research Features
Review emphasizes the importance of understanding the genetics of sex determination for effective genetic pest management in insects.
Eleven new Penicillium and Talaromyces species discovered in South African culture collections.
A new study reveals the presence of Mycotoxins in Eastern Cape maize in South Africa.
Eurotiales update: FABIans Prof. Cobus Visagie and Dr Neriman Yilmaz and their collaborators have published a review of recently described Eurotiales species, including the economically important Aspergillus, Penicillium, Paecilomyces and Talaromyces.
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.
Born in 1876, Karlsruhe, Germany - died 1960, Pretoria.
Erich Mayer was educated in Berlin, could not afford to study art, but won a bursary for architectural training. His studies were discontinued as a result of ill health. Seeking a more healthy climate, Mayer came to South Africa in 1896 and worked as a land surveyor in the Free State. He was captured during the South African War (1899-1902) and sent back to Germany by the British. He returned to South Africa in 1911, and eventually worked as a newspaper artist in Pretoria. Here he became acquainted with Wenning and Pierneef, to whom he taught the art of woodcut.
He held his first exhibitions in 1916, and in later years travelled the country with his wife by caravan, painting rural scenes. By the late 1920’s his work became popular resulting in many commissions and exhibitions. Although he gained recognition during his career, he never reached the heights of his contemporaries during his lifetime. The works exhibited here are from his early career.
Born in 1946, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Clarke spent part of his childhood in Barberton, Mpumalanga. He completed a BA (Fine Arts, 1968) at the University of the Witwatersrand, and an MA (Fine Arts, 1981) at the University of Pretoria. He lectured at the University of Pretoria and the UNISA, and is now working independently as an artist and teacher based at his studio/gallery in Pretoria.
Clarke works on paper using pencil, pen, pastel, intaglio and digital printing processes. His enduring interest has been in the landscape, supported by his strong interest in the history and pre-history of man in southern Africa.
John has participated in major group exhibitions of work by South African artists in France, Chile, the USA, Germany and South Africa, and is represented in most of the major public collections in South Africa. Since 1975 he has held ten solo exhibitions in Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban and London including a retrospective exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum in 1992 entitled "The Stones Revisited".
Born in 1909, Cape Town - died in 2005 (Onrus) after a hunger strike of almost two months following the death of Mary, his partner of 60 years.
Born from a father that was an artist in his own right, Boonzaier rubbed shoulders with some of the most important South African artists from an early age and learned from them. Gregoire's father was dead set against a formal training in art and felt that he had more to learn from the artists around him. The boy received his first box of paints at age 13 and his own easel at age 17, putting him onto an artistic path of 80 years. By 1925 he held his first one man exhibition. His landscapes, portraits, still lifes and historical paintings now hangs in galleries worldwide.
Boonzaier was a famous exponent of Cape Impressionism, a founder of the New Group, and a contributor, through his art works, to the struggle against apartheid. For many years he regularly visited District Six and the Malay Quarter in Cape Town, sitting in the streets, painting its colourful life, and unknowingly at the time, recording it historically, before the forced removal of the inhabitants from these areas.
Boonzaier was a friend and well-known contributor to the University of Pretoria, with a bursary fund named after him, and more than 30 works donated to the institution during his lifetime.
Born 1950, in Pretoria.
Naude has completed both his BA and MA degrees in Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria. During the 1970s’ and 1980s, he was teaching art at several high schools in Johannesburg and Cape Town. He then was a part-time lecturer at the University of Pretoria from 1988 to 1998, and after that at UNISA. Since 2001 he has worked full time as an artist.
Naude has participated in approximately 30 solo and 50 group shows in South Africa and has taken part in exhibitions in the Algarve, Lisbon, New York, Washington DC, Toronto, Paris, Riberac, Hamburg and Barcelona.
The subject matter in his paintings are raked with environmental issues, hope and absurd social conditions. He plays in his work with a dark humour surrounding his subject matter and so calls attention to the more serious underlying matters.
New Publications
Dewing C, Yilmaz N, Steenkamp ET, Wingfield BD, Visagie CM. (2025) Capturing the fungal diversity hidden in Eastern Cape dairy pastures. Mycological Progress 24(1):38.
10.1007/s11557-025-02059-2
Nel WJ, Duong TA, Fell S, Herron DA, Paap T, Wingfield MJ, de Beer ZW, Hulcr J, Johnson AJ. (2025) A checklist of South African bark and ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae, Platypodinae). Zootaxa 5648(1):1-101.
10.11646/zootaxa.5648.1.1
Dewing C, Yilmaz N, Steenkamp ET, Wingfield BD, Visagie CM. (2025) Capturing the fungal diversity hidden in Eastern Cape dairy pastures. Mycological Progress 24:38.
10.1007/s11557-025-02059-2 
Chang R, Yan Z, Jiang J, Wang Y, Si H, Bose T, Miao C. (2025) Four novel endolichenic fungi from Usnea spp. (Lecanorales, Parmeliaceae) in Yunnan and Guizhou, China: Taxonomic description and preliminary assessment of bioactive potentials. MycoKeys 118:55–80.
10.3897/mycokeys.118.155248
Lötter A, Bruna T, Duong TA, Barry K, Lipzen A, Daum C, Yoshinaga Y, Grimwood J, Jenkins JW, Talag J, Borevitz J, Lovell JT, Schmutz J, Wegrzyn JL, Myburg AA. (2025) A haplotype-resolved reference genome for Eucalyptus grandis. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics
10.1093/g3journal/jkaf112