Dr Claudette Dewing
| Postdoctoral Fellow | |
Department |
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FABI |
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Fusarium species play diverse and important roles in many aspects of life, including plant, human and animal health. This makes accurate species identification incredibly important. Macro- and micromorphological features, which remain essential for accurate identification—especially in regions with limited access to molecular tools—are still lacking for many important Fusarium species. High-quality photoplates enable rapid, preliminary identification in diagnostic and field settings. Additionally, many described Fusarium species still lack genomic and secondary metabolite data, despite the critical role of fungal metabolites in agriculture and food safety. My project will integrate morphology, genome sequencing and biosynthesis gene cluster characterisation to explore species diversity and metabolomic potential. This will not only maintain taxonomic continuity but also enhance identification resources and provide valuable educational materials for mycologists and plant pathologists.
News
ABI recently celebrated the successful completion of Claudette Dewing’s PhD
The CTHB Outreach Team at FABI hosted “Meet the scientists” information sessions for undergraduate students at the University of Pretoria on 26 and 27 February.
Twenty undergraduate students will gain hands-on scientific research experience as mentees in the CTHB Mentorship Programme.
A team of about 40 students spent the morning on 21 March replanting 1600 cuttings into potting bags at the FABI nursery on the University of Pretoria’s experimental farm.
In the week of 4 March, the TPCP had three different field trips to the KwaZulu-Natal, Midlands.
Late in 2018, 14 FABIans banded together for the mammoth task of inoculating and disease assessment of 6,360 Pinus patula seedlings with 159 Fusarium circinatum isolates.
In March 2018 four FABIans won prizes at the South African Society of Microbiology Congress.
My Journal Articles
| Publication |
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| 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 |
| 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 |
| Dewing C, Visagie CM, Steenkamp ET, Wingfield BD, Yilmaz N. (2025) Three new species of Fusarium (Nectriaceae, Hypocreales) isolated from Eastern Cape dairy pastures in South Africa. MycoKeys 115:241–271.
10.3897/mycokeys.115.148914 |
| Dankie VN, Steenkamp ET, De Vos L, Swalarsk-Parry BS, Dewing C, Fru F, Wilken PM, Mchunu NP, Wingfield BD, Wingfield MJ, van der Nest MA. (2025) Growth, pathogenicity and sexual fertility of the African tree pathogen Ceratocystis albifundus. Journal of Plant Pathology 107:125–135.
10.1007/s42161-024-01634-y |
| Swalarsk-Parry BS, De Vos L, Fru FF, Santana QC, van der Nest MA, Wingfield BD, Wingfield MJ, Herron DA, Ramaswe JB, Dewing C, Sayari M, van der Merwe NA, van Wyk S, Lane FA, Wilson AM, Adegeye OO, Soal NC, Price J-L, Steenkamp ET. (2024) Wide variation in aggressiveness and growth in South African Fusarium circinatum isolates with geographical origin as the primary determinant. Southern Forests: a Journal of Forest Science
10.2989/20702620.2024.2363749 |
| Visagie CM, Yilmaz N, Allison JD, Barreto RW, Boekhout T, Boers J, Delgado MA, Dewing C, Fitza KNE, Furtado ECA, Gaya E, Hill R, Hobden A, Hu DM, Hülsewig T, Khonsanit A, Luangsa-Ard JJ, Mthembu A, Pereira CM, Price J-L, Pringle A, Qikani N, Sandoval-Denis M, Shumacher RK, Seifert KA, Slippers B, Tennakoon DS, Thanakitpipattana D, vanVuuren N, Groenewald JZ, Crous PW. (2024) New and Interesting Fungi. 7.. Fungal Systematics and Evolution 13:441–494.
10.3114/fuse.2024.13.12 |
| Dewing C, van der Nest MA, Santana QC, Proctor RH, Wingfield BD, Steenkamp ET, De Vos L. (2022) Characterization of host-specific genes from Pine- and grass-associated species of the Fusarium fujikuroi species complex. Pathogens 11:858.
10.3390/pathogens11080858 |
