Please join us for a presentation by David Johnson "Saving the Planet: The Power & Promise of Environmental Economics". His presentation will follow the formal part of the MMM.

Chair: Raven Wienk

Mmamokete Bokhale: Title pending 

Maxwell Kibor: Title pending 

Carlynn Jacobs: Title pending 

Byron Sonnekus: Title pending 

Chair: Jenna-Lee Price

Samkelisiwe Thango: Title pending 

Kenny Masuku: Title pending 

Harmen Barten: Title pending 

Nicole van Vuuren: Title pending 

Chair: Ashleigh Smith

Otlotleng Moloto: Title pending 

Luki-Marie Scheepers: Title pending 

Alison Bridgen: Title pending 

Katlego Mopotsa: Title pending 

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Avanish Rai. His presentation will follow the formal part of the MMM.

Chair: Sikelela Buthelezi

Anneri Lotter: Pan-genome of Eucalyptus grandis

Question panel: Tebogo Molemela, Adri Grobler, Pfano Mbedzi:

Please join us for a presentation by Dr Thabiso Motaung, Dr Khumbuzile Bophela and Philani Dlamini. Their presentation "Fast-tracking research with preprinting - Highlighting preprint trends in South Africa" will follow the formal part of the MMM.

Chair: Teresia Macharia

Tebogo Molemela: The identification of DNA markers within E. grandis candidate genes associated with the resistance against Leptocybe invasa for genotype selection.

Adri Grobler: Evaluating the use of bacteriophages as biocontrol agents against onion bulb rot pathogens. 

Question panel: Trystan Nadasen, Sithembile Kunene, Marisca Hough

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Neriman Yilmaz "Facing the fungus: Unmasking the mystery of Facial eczema in cattle". Her presentation will follow the formal part of the MMM.

Venue:

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Neriman Yilmaz "Facing the Fungus: Unmasking the Mystery of Facial Eczema in Cattle". Her presentation will follow the formal part of the MMM.

Please join us for QianLi Liu's Prestige Seminar "Phylogeny, taxonomy and the ecology of Calonectria species" in the FABI Auditorium at 15h00.

Refreshments will be served afterwards.

Chair: Mandla Sibiya 

Trystan Nadasen: Exploring NIS1 effectors of Cercospora zeina

Sithembile Kunene: Characterization of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from pine spp. 

Marisca Hough: Comparing a pathogenicity effector gene family in two Cercospora species by Agroinfiltration into tobacco

 Question panel: Bianca Hattingh, Cliriska de Jager, Ntombizodwa Luvhimbi

Chair: Mandla Sibiya 

Trystan Nadasen: Exploring NIS1 effectors of Cercospora zeina

Sithembile Kunene: Characterization of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from pine spp. 

Marisca Hough: Comparing a pathogenicity effector gene family in two Cercospora species by Agroinfiltration into tobacco

 Question panel: Bianca Hattingh, Cliriska de Jager, Ntombizodwa Luvhimbi

Please join us for a presentation by Melissa Reynolds. Her presentation "Revolutionizing your DNA extraction experience: Introducing the oKtopure^TM" will follow the formal part of the MMM.

Chair: Garyn Townsend

Bianca Hattingh: Functional characterisation of defence genes in Eucalyptus hairy roots.

Cliriska de Jager: Evaluation of different integrated pest management strategies of thrips in macadamia and avocado orchards.

Ntombizodwa Luvhimbi: Interactions between soil nutrients and stress on thrips damage of macadamias in Levubu region of Limpopo Province.

Question panel: Cassandra Schoeman, Mabodiba Maake

Please join us for the Rachel Mkandawire's Prestige Seminar "Diversity of Fusarium Link and mite species associated with malformed Syzygium cordatum Hochst. Ex Krauss (Water berry) inflorescences" in the FABI Auditorium at 16h00.

Refreshments will be served afterwards.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Wilma Nel. Her presentation"The Fusarium symbionts of an "African" Euwallacea species" will follow the formal part of the MMM.

The United Nations designated 12 May the International Day of Plant Health (IDPH) to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect biodiversity and the environment, and boost economic development. On behalf of the International Day of Plant HealthIDPH@UP Organizing Committee, we are honored to invite you to take part in celebrating this International Day of Plant Health on the 12th May 2023 from 8:00-14:30.  The full program will be shared on Friday this week.

RSVP by 5 May using the link below for us to make sure that you get the best out of that day. Share the advert with friends and colleagues.

 Chair: Luki-Marie Scheepers

Cassandra Schoeman: The evolution of phosphorus-mining roots in Fynbos angiosperms

Mabodiba Maake: The diversity and description of rhizobia associated with indigenous South African legumes

Question panel: Thembela Lulane, Nkosinathi Ndaba, Thembeka Mkhize, Alinaswe Selebi

The annual meeting of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) and DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Plant Health Biotechnology (CPHB) has become one of the most important meetings relating to forest tree health in South Africa and globally. The 2023 TPCP/CPHB meeting will take place on 9-10 May. This event is open to staff of member companies of the TPCP and other stakeholders in the TPCP and CPHB.

As has been the case in the past, the 34^th annual meeting of the TPCP will focus on key issues relating to forest tree health in South Africa. Importantly, the meeting will again seek to provide feedback to forest industry and other stakeholders on programmes focused on dealing with threatening pest and disease problems following an integrated pest management approach.

Chair: Nicole van Vuuren

Nkosinathi Ndaba: Fungal diversity of grains and leaves from grey leaf spot diseased maize

Thembeka Mkhize: Non-insecticidal pest management options for stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in macadamia orchards

Question panel: Alice Mthembu, Callin Ceriani, Angelique de Wet, Ine Botha

Even main text here!

Please join us for the Prestige Seminar of Silindile Maphosa on Wednesday 26 April at 14h30 in the FABI Auditorium. The title of her presentation is "Secretome analyses of selected Pectobacterium brasiliense 1692 secretion systems".

Refreshments will be served after the seminar.

Please join us for the FABI International Seminar Series presentation on Tuesday 25 April at 16h00 (GMT+2). Dr João Araújo, an Assistant Curator of Mycology at the Institute of Systematic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden will present his talk entitled "The Biology Behind the “Zombie-Ant Fungus” Phenomenon.”

Click here for more information (or to register if you have not done so before).

Please join us for a presentation by Dr Quentin Guignard. His presentation "Field work with insect pheromones (or how to make your brain goes “Bzzzz”)" will follow the formal part of the MMM.

Chair: Nam Pham

Alice Mthembu: Survey of fungal and oomycete diversity in maize field soils from the Eastern Cape.

Callin Ceriani: The population genetic analysis of Fusarium circinatum in Colombia.

Angelique de Wet: The effect of agricultural practices on potato health, the soil microbiome, and soil physical and chemical properties. 

Ine Botha:Molecular studies to differentiate species in the endemic Greyia tree genus.

Question panel: Melandri van Lill, Monique Muller, Ofentse Mathibela, Carla Buitendag

Please join us for a presentation by Tshiamo Setuke from the UP Department of Library Services on plagiarism and Turn-It-In. The presentation will follow the formal part of the MMM.

Chair: Claudette Dewing

Melandre van Lill: The diversity of Rhizobia associated with bush encroachers of South Africa.

Alicia Fick: Transcriptional regulation of avocado NLR genes in response to Phytophthora cinnamomi infection.

Ofentse Mathibela:The effect of planting date on Maize floral biology

Question panel: Jostina Rakoma, Bernard Smit, Joshua Tsamba

Chair: Maxwell Kibor

Jostina Rakoma: Closing the loop: Characterizing the MAT genes from diverse plant-associated Ceratocystidaceae species.

Bernard Smit: GRF-GIF chimera to aid in transgenic regeneration of Eucalyptus

Joshua Tsamba: The first record of fungal endophytes associated with the sub-Antarctic cushion plant, Azorella selago (Apiaceae).

Question panel: Wisely Kola, Phophi Nethononda, Idea Makowe, Katelyn Baird

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Andi Wilson "Finding a needle in a haystack: Searching for the a-factor pheromone in the Leotiomycetes". Her presentation will follow the formal part of the MMM.

Please join us for the FABI International Seminar Series webinar on 30 March at 14h30 (GMT+2). The guest speaker is Dr João Araújo who will present a talk entitled "The biology behind the “Zombie-ant fungus” phenomenon".

Please note that the starting time has changed to 14h30 (GMT+2) and not 16h00.

Chair: Mathew Harris

Wisely Kola: Biofilm formation by the fungal pathogen Exserohilum turcicum from maize fields in South Africa.

Idea Makowe: The effect of laboratory rearing on four parasitoid species used in biological control

Katelyn Baird: Identifying and understanding necrosis-inducing proteins (NLPs) in Phytophthora cinnamomi.

Question panel: Sizwe Mthembu, Phinda Magagula 

Please join us for MMM at 08h30 in the FABI auditorium. Molly Malefo will present "Establishing a protoplast transformation system for the white root rot pathogen Rosellinia necatrix'" after the formal part of the meeting.

Chair: Mathew Harris

Sizwe Mthembu: "Thermal remote sensing of maize development, yield response to environmental stress across planting dates in South Africa"

Phinda Magagula: Investigating the rhizosphere community composition of white root rot infected and healthy avocado trees.

Question panel: Tshoganyetso Motete, Tebogo Molemela, Rosa Knoppersen

Chair: Philani Dlamini 

Tshoganyetso Motete: Molecular factors influencing the immunity of a Eucalyptus host against Teratosphaeria destructans infection.

Rosa Knoppersen: Insect-microbe interactions in Gonipterus sp. n. 2.

Sean Schultze: In planta expression of selected Fusarium circinatum genes and partial characterization of a putative virulence factor.

Question panel: Phophi Nethononda, Tsakani Miyambo, Ndalama Mashava, Teresia Macharia

Please join us for MMM at 08h30 in the FABI auditorium. Samantha Bush, Zandile Mngadi and Sophie Nyoni will present "an introduction to the FABI biocontrol facility" after the formal part of the meeting.

Chair: Nomakula Zim

Tsakani Miyambo: Development of microsatellite markers for population genetics studies in Rosellinia necatrix.

Teresia Macharia - Meloidogyne javanica pathogenicity factors: Identification and functional characterization.

Question panel: Shae Swanepoel, Eloff Theron, Elmarie van der Merwe and Vera Röder

Please join us for a presentation by Marthin Tarigan "Sustaining effective collaborations, the RGE-FABI Tree Health Programme" this presentation will follow the formal part of the MMM.

Please join us for a special seminar by Dr Dan Jacobs en entitled "Crises abound: Health, climate, energy, food, pandemies.... How supercomputing, AI, and large scale systems biology can help address the major challenges we are facing.

Chair: Myriam Solis

Shae Swanepoel: The defence potential of Eucalyptus.

Eloff Theron: Phosphonate sensitivity of Phytophthora nicotianae in South African citrus orchards and nurseries.

Elmarie van der Merwe: The development and application of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tools to control the insect pest Sirex noctilio.

Vera Röder: Transcriptional responses of styles and anther filaments to specific environmental stimuli in Helianthus annuus.

Question panel: Lize Reinecke, Preston Shaw, Rudolph Strydom

Please join us for MMM at 08h30. A presentation by Dr Dawit Kidanemariam "The RNAi journey at MPPI" will follow the formal part of the meeting. 

Chair: Christoff Joubert

Lize Reinecke: Efficacy of new oomycete fungicides and biological control agents for the management of Phytophthora root rot of citrus in South Africa.

Preston Shaw:Genome-wide discovery of alternative splicing in Ceratocystis using long-read sequencing.

Rudolph Strydom:Evaluating the efficacy of different control strategies in suppressing Spongospora subterranea f. sp. subterranea diseases on potatoes and soil inoculum levels.

Question panel: Innocent Rakubu, Tania Pogue and Dylan Pullock.

The APSB Programme (Department of BGM and FABI) will be hosting a number of world-leading experts in the area of plant genome evolution and polyploidy at the University of Pretoria. This includes Prof. Yves Van de Peer and Prof. Dries Bonte (VIB and UGhent), Prof. James Leebens Mack (university of Georgia); as well as Prof. Pamela Soltis (University of Florida) and Prof. Doug Soltis (Distinguished Professor at the Florida Museum of Natural History). To take advantage of this shared expertise, A one-day Symposium will be held at the Plant Sciences Auditorium, University of Pretoria (Hillcrest/Main Campus) on Tuesday, 21 February 2021.

Attendance is free, but please register here should you be interested in attending

Should you have any questions/queries please email Prof. Eshchar Mizrachi with the Subject "Plant Genome Evolution and Polyploidy". 

Please join us for MMM in the FABI auditorium at 08h30. A presentation by Miriam Schalamun "Insights into signal integration by the G-protein pathway for regulation of carbon- and secondary metabolism in Trichoderma reesei" will follow the formal part of the meeting.

Chair: Julia Candotti

Innocent Rakubu: Using behavioral patterns as a guide for the host-foraging strategies of five South African entomopathogenic nematodes.

Langanani Matodzi: Identification and population genetics of fungal species that cause sudden death syndrome of soybean in South Africa.

Tania Pogue: The ins and outs of Oriental fruit fly lure response.

Dylan Pullock: Development of a novel artificial intelligence-based detection and identification system for citrus psyllids.

Please join us for MMM in the FABI Auditorium at 08h30. A presentation by Dr Katrin Fitza will follow the formal part of the meeting.

Chair: Melissa Joubert

Please join us for Monday Morning Meeting at 08h30 in the FABI Auditorium. A presentation by Dr Gabrielle Carstensen "The FABI diagnostic clinic: Plant doctors for forestry" will follow the formal part of the meeting.

Please join us for Privilege Makunde's Prestige Seminar, entitled "Biology and ecology of Eucalyptus psyllid pests in South Africa" in the FABI Auditorium at 16h00 (GMT+2) on 31 January.

Please join us for Monday Morning Meeting at 08h30 in the FABI Auditorium.

Please join us for FABI's first Thursday Morning Seminars for 2023.

Please join us for FABI's first Monday Morning Meeting for 2023 where Prof. Bernard Slippers will welcome everyone back for the new year.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Olabimpe Yewande Orubuloye  entitled "Applied chemical ecology in the control of plantation forest insect pests" on 5 December at 08h30. Her presentation will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for "Book fun" at MMM on the 28 November at 08:30.

Chair: Demissew Tesfaye Teshome

WenWen Li: Species diversity and population biology of Calonectria associated with Eucalyptus in southern China
Marne van Butzelaar: Baseline sensitivity and resistance mechanisms of Exserohilum turcicum, the causal pathogen of northern leaf blight, to demethylation inhibitor fungicides in South Africa
Mary Ranketse: Genomic resources for molecular breeding in Macadamia nut cultivars
Frances Lane: Pheromones and receptors from a fungal family with diverse sexual strategies

Question panel: Rosa Knoppersen, Cheyenne Theron, Dee Twiddy and Phrasia Mapfumo

Please join us for MMM 21 November 08:30. The students who attended the Bioinformatics/Invasive Species workshop will give us feedback on the workshop. This will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Phumlani Nzuza

Rosa Knoppersen: What is in the belly of the beast: The gut microbial diversity of Gonipterus sp. n. 2.
Cheyenne Theron: Determining the causal agent of brown spot needle blight disease on non-native Pinus spp. in Colombia
Dee Twiddy: Fungal diseases of macadamia fruit in South Africa
Phrasia Mapfumo: Assessing the effect of planting date and environmental conditions on sunflower development, Sclerotinia head rot progression and yield

Question panel: Jane Ramaswe, Sinethemba Nkosi, Claire Randolph and Nksosinathi Ndaba

Please join us for a presentation by Prof Zander Myburg on the 14 November at 08h30. His Presentation will follow after the Monday morning meeting. 

Byron Sonnekus

Jane Ramaswe: Chemotropic Assay for testing Fusarium circinatum response towards chemical stimuli
Sinethemba Nkosi: CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing towards the resistance to the banana bunchy top virus 
Claire Randolph: Fusarium euwallaceae in South Africa:  a population study of a one-of-a-kind invasive pathogen
Nksosinathi Ndaba: Microbial content of grey leaf spot diseased maize plants

Question panel: Tsakani Miyambo, Nomakula Zim and Gerhard Botha

Please join us for a presentation by Prof. Diana Six from the Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, University of Montana, USA on the 7 November at 08h30. Her Presentation entitled "Sci-art: what, why, and how" will follow after the Monday morning meeting. 

"Sci-Art is gaining in popularity and is now broadly recognized as a powerful avenue of outreach for scientists. But what exactly is it, why should scientists create it, and how do we go about co-creation with artists (or become artists ourselves)? In this seminar, I will provide some answers to these questions, provide examples of various types of sci-art and sci-art collaborations, and describe ways to get started. After the seminar, interested individuals are invited to join me in the FABI courtyard for a casual discussion of ways to build collaborations and to make some ‘quick sci-art.’ "

Please join us for the SASSB 2022 Webinar Series on Thursday 3 November at 16:00 (GMT+2).

Dr. Marike Palmer from the School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada Las Vegas, USA will present her talk entitled "SeqCode: Empowering prokaryotic taxonomists to use resources that are appropriate for naming the organisms they study"

Click here for more information (or to register if you have not done so before) for SASSB 2022 Webinar Series.

Chair: Mary Ranketse

Tsakani Miyambo: The development of microsatellite markers for population genetics studies in Rosellinia necatrix
Nomakula Zim: Towards understanding the pathogenicity and adaptation of Xanthomonas vasicola
Gerhard Botha:Characterisation of flower blight causal agents in South African macadamia orchards

Question panel: Byron Sonnekus, Carla Buitendag, Lihan Esterhuizen and Daniella Kramer

Please join us for a presentation by Prof Eshchar Mizrachi on the 31 October at 08h30. His presentation will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for a Special Seminar presentation on Friday 28 October at 15:00. Dr Brett Summerell will present his talk entitled "An integrated approach to protecting and conserving plants against the impact of invasive diseases in Australia.”

Chair: Myriam Solis Garcia

Byron Sonnekus: Molecular diagnostic tools to detect the causative agents of macadamia dry flower disease in South Africa
Carla Buitendag: Control of Grey leaf spot disease in maize using RNA interference
Lihan Esterhuizen: The detection of Phytophthora alticola root rot using hyperspectral readings from Eucalyptus leaves. 
Daniella Kramer: Hybridization between self-fertile species of Ceratocystis 

Question panel: Claudette Dewing and Shivan Bezuidenhout

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Mesfin Gossa on 24 October at 08h30. His presentation entitled "Wattle pests and diseases in Ethiopia" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Rachel Mkandawire

Claudette Dewing: Capturing the fungal diversity hidden in Eastern Cape pastures
Shivan Bezuidenhout: The fungal diversity and mycotoxins associated with South African soybeans

Question panel: Jade Ashmore, Lazarus Mavima and Luki-Marie Scheepers

Please join us for MMM on 17 October at 08h30. Sarah Cairns will be speaking about the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Hackathon: Art and Trees project.

Please join us for Felipe Balocchi's Prestige Seminar on Thursday 13 October at 16h00. His seminar entitled, "Araucaria (Araucaria araucana) canker disease in Chile: etiology and fungal diversity will be held in the FABI auditorium and virtually on the Zoom platform.

Chair: Benedicta Swalarsk-Parry

Jade Ashmore: Optimizing CRISPR-Cas9 microinjection for gene editing in Gonipterus sp.2
Lazarus Mavima: 
The biology and evolution of South African Paraburkholderia species with agricultural potential
Luki-Marie Scheepers: The Wattle bagworm: Detection limits vs chemical elucidation at trace levels

Question panel: Stefan Links and Elisa Pal

Please join us for a presentation by David Johnson on the 10 October at 08h30. His presentation entitled "42:  FABI's Love Affair With Baseball"  will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Luki-Marie Scheepers

Stefan Links: Investigating the South African Plant Health Biosecurity system and its role in Agricultural Development
Elisa Pal: Toxicity, behaviour and sublethal effects of various insecticides used in the management of Bathycoelia distincta (Pentatomidae)

Question panel: Ipeleng Randome, Casey Gill and Privilege Makunde

Please join us for a presentation by Prof Trudi Joubert on the 3 October at 08h30. Her presentation will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Mandla Sibiya

Casey Gill: Pacbio sequencing of the fungal mutualists associated with Xylosandrus crassiusculus in avocado orchards in South Africa
Ipeleng Randome: Reverse genetics studies of novel ARF and MYB transcription factors associated with wood formation in Eucalyptus
Privilege Makunde: Biology of the invasive shell lerp psyllid, Spondyliaspis cf. plicatuloides (Froggatt) (Hemiptera: Aphalaridae)

Question panel: Dedorah Narh Mensah, Jane Ramaswe and Anneri Lotter 

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Janneke Aylward on 26 September at 08h30. Her presentation entitled "Stem pathogenicity in Teratosphaeria is associated with gene expansion, but not repeat gain" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Manchela Ratsoma

Aviwe Simandla: Risk analysis of pests of potential quarantine concern on plantation forest trees
Anneri Lotter: The pan-genome of Eucalyptus grandis
Dedorah Narh Mensah: Two distinct NRPS-independent siderophore synthetase gene clusters identified in Armillaria species

Question panel: Pfano Mbedzi, Mondli Xaba and Nicole van Vuuren

Please join us for MMM on 19 September at 08h30. Dr Gudrun Dittrich-Schroder and her students will be speaking about their research.

Their presentations entitled, "Experiences of two masters students at the XXVI International Congress of Entomology" by Elmarie Van der Merwe and Jade Ashmore and "Gene editing as a tool for insect pest control" by Dr Gudrun Dittrich-Schroder will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Birhanu Sisay

Pfano Mbedzi: Population genetics of the African maize stalk borer, Busseola fusca: implications for the evolution of resistance to Bt maize
Mondli Xaba: Long read de novo draft assembly of the Acacia mearnsii genome
Nicole van Vuuren: Fungal diversity in Namibian Stipagrostis ‘fairy circles’ including the description of new Curvularia species

Question panel: Taponeswa Tasiya and Patience Modiba

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr. David Read on 12 September at 08h30. His presentation, "A year in the life of the plant virology group" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Jane Ramaswe

Taponeswa Tasiya: The description of Bradyrhizobium isolated from Acacia sp.
Felipe Balocchi: Calicioid fungi on branches of Araucaria spp.: Finding the missing links
Ndamulelo Nengovhela: Evaluation of the chemical and physical interactions of Glycine max and Helicoverpa armigera

Question panel: Angel Maduke, Alida van Dijk, Lente van Zyl and Jenna-Lee Price

Please join us for MMM 5 September at 08:30. Dr. Marinda Visser will be speaking to us about the Biosecurity Hub.

Chair: Nam Pham

Angel Maduke: Diversity and pathogenicity of Botryosphaeriaceae species on leaves, racemes and nuts of Macadamia
Alida van Dijk: The application and development of CRISPR-Cas systems in Fusarium circinatum for genome and transcriptome editing
Lente van Zyl: The molecular basis of induced and systemic acquired resistance in the Pinus-Fusarium circinatum pathosystem
Jenna-Lee Price: The exploration of fungi and their mycotoxins associated with maize ear rots from emerging maize farms in the Eastern Cape

Question panel: Sasha-Lee Gush, Boitshoko Rammuki, Tshiamo Phakalatsane and Ofentse Mathibela

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Ariska van der Nest on 29 August at 08h30. Her presentation entitled "The emerging threat of Ganoderma root rot to Eucalyptus plantations in Indonesia" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Ashleigh Smith

Sasha-Lee Gush: Shifts in the soil microbiome of potatoes infected with Rhizoctonia solani AG 3-PT in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa
Boitshoko Rammuki: The world of RNA interference in Fusarium species
Tshiamo Phakalatsane: Homothallism in two species of Chrysoporthe from Zambia
Ofentse Mathibela: Evaluating maize phenology using traditional, high-throughput and automated technologies

Question panel: Firehiwot Eshetu, Ruby Ebbeling, Matthew Jackson and Zinhle Nxumalo

Please join us for MMM on 22 August at 08:30. Prof Zander Myburg will be speaking to us about his research.

Chair: Murilo Ribeiro

Firehiwot Eshetu: Population genetics of the invasive woodwasp Sirex noctilio in Australia and New Zealand reveals population change over time
Ruby Ebbeling: Precision phenotyping of Pinus for resistance against Fusarium circinatum by real-time PCR
Matthew Jackson: Population genetics and gene editing of the Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Zinhle Nxumalo: Diversity and evolution of terpene synthase genes in Ascomycota

Question panel:  Christoff Joubert, Gina Granados and Nam Pham

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Tanay Bose on 15 August at 08h30. His presentation entitled, "Taxonomic evaluation of Ceratobasidium and allied genera" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Alicia Fick

Christoff Joubert: Eucalyptus defense response against herbivory and oviposition by Gonipterus sp. n. 2
Gina Granados: Changes in the genetic structure and occurrence of sexual recombination in a Colombian population of Dothistroma septosporum
Lazarus Takawira: Functional investigation of five R2R3-MYB transcription factors associated with wood development in Eucalyptus
Nam Pham: Characterisation of the mating type loci in Elsinoe including the Eucalyptus pathogen Elsinoe necatrix

Question panel: Welapi Maluleke, Benny Swarlarsk-Parry and Mandla Sibiya

Please join us for a presentation by Prof Brenda Wingfield on 8 August at 08h30.

Chair: Murilo Ribeiro

Zinhle Nxumalo: Diversity and evolution of terpene synthase genes in Ascomycota
Marne van Butzelaar: Baseline sensitivity and fungicide resistance mechanisms of Exserohilum turcicum to demethylation inhibitor fungicides in South Africa

Question Panel: Welapi Maluleke, Benny Swarlarsk-Parry and Mandla Sibiya

Chair: Alandi Niewoudt

Welapi Maluleke: Determining the susceptibility of commercial Eucalyptus species against Quambalaria eucalypti using pathogenicity and hyperspectral imaging in South Africa.
Benny Swarlarsk-Parry: Characterization of a growth QTL of F. circinatum on pine-based medium
Mandla Sibiya: Development of region-specific crop rotation programmes for the Eastern Free State: A review, five years into the study


Question panel: Harris Keetse, Jabulile Mahlangu, Myriam Solis Garcia and Fanele Mnguni

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Godfrey Kgatle on 25 July at 08h30. His presentation, "GRP extension and diagnostics: Mind the gap" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Elisa Pal

Harris Keetse: The Impact of Gonipterus sp.2 damage on Eucalyptus tree growth.
Jabulile Mahlangu:  Comparative population genetics of Exserohilum turcicum, a foliar pathogen of maize in smallholder and commercial farms in Kenya and South Africa.
Myriam Solis Garcia: Can a Eucalyptus leaf wax compound inhibit Teratosphaeria destructans germination?
Fanele Mnguni: The diversity and pathogenicity of Rahnella species isolated from diseased onions in the United states and South Africa.

Question panel: Marisca Hough, Bianca Hough, Carlyn Jacobs and Thembeka Mkhize

Chair: Mateka Modiba

Marisca Hough: Comparing a pathogenicity effector gene family in two Cercospora species by agroinfiltration into tobacco
Bianca Hough: Mycoviruses associated with pathogenic Ceratocystis species
Carlynn Jacobs: Genomics and population genetics of mycotoxigenic Fusarium species associated with South African maize
Thembeka Mkhize: The non-insecticidal pest management options for stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in South Africa’s macadamia orchards

Question panel: Adri Grobler, Bianca Hattingh, and Alicia Fick

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Wilma Nel on 11 July at 08h30. Her presentation entitled "Investigating strategies for the biological control of PSHB",  will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Fanele Mnguni

Adri Grobler: Evaluating the use of bacteriophages as biocontrol agents against onion bulb rot pathogens
Bianca Hattingh: Overexpression of AtNPR1 in Eucalyptus nitens hairy roots
Alicia Fick: Cis-elements & DNA methylation pattern changes of NLR genes in Persea americana during Phytophthora cinnamomi infection 
Sasha-Lee Gush: Shifts in the rhizosphere microbiome of potatoes infected with Rhizoctonia solani in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa

Question panel: Angelique de Wet, Callin Ceriani, Bertus van Heerden and Rachel Mkandawire

Please join us for various presentations by members who attended the Fungal Genetics meeting. Their discussions will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Ndamulelo Nengovela

Angelique de Wet: The effect of different farming practices on the soil microbiome biodiversity, potato health, and soil physical and chemical properties
Callin Ceriani: The population genetic analysis of the introduction of the pitch canker pathogen, Fusarium circinatum, into Colombia
Bertus van Heerden: Real-time feedback-driven single-particle tracking: a state-of-the-art microscopic and spectroscopic technique
Rachel Mkandawire: Diversity of Fusarium and mites associated with Syzygium cordatum inflorescences.

Question panel: Ine Botha, Khanyisile Botshelo, Samkeliswe Thango and Garyn Townsend

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Michelle Schroder on 27 June at 08h30. Her presentation, "The prevalence and distribution of Phoracantha species and their biological control in South Africa" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Lazarus Mavima

Ine Botha: Molecular studies to differentiate species and describe flower colouration in the endemic Greyia tree genus.
Khanyisile Botshelo: Unraveling the mechanism by which Trichoderma spp. antagonizes the avocado White root rot pathogen Rosellinia necatrix.
Samkelisiwe Thango: Precision diagnostics of maize foliar disease development by integrating genomic and phenotypic data using machine learning analysis approaches.
Garyn Townsend: Initial assessment of the polyphagous shot hole borer (PSHB) in indigenous South African Forests.

Question panel: Otlotleng Moloto, Katelyn Baird, Chanel Thomas and Demissew Teshome.

Please join us for a presentation by Arne Schreuder on 20 June at 08h30. He will give us a presentation on the Information Hub.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI Research Fellow Dr. Trudy Paap on 13 June at 08h30. Her presentation entitled, "The importance of plant pathology in conservation efforts." will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Tsakani Miyambo

Chanel Thomas: Leveraging genomic data to understand the taxonomy and population genetics of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum
Otlotleng Moloto: Development of translation initiation factor-based potyvirus resistance to sweet potato virus disease in South Africa
Katelyn Baird: Understanding the role of Phytophthora cinnamomi NLP effectors in host plant cell death.
Demissew Teshome:Transcriptional reprogramming during recovery from drought stress in Eucalyptus grandis

Question panel: Murilo Ribeiro, Francinah Ratsoma, Alinaswe Selebi and Ruth Nante

Please join us for a presentation by Alisa Postma on 6 June at 08h30. Her presentation, entitled "From Virtual to Actual to Something in Between: BIO2022, the first SASBi/SAGS Hybrid Conference" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Kenny Masuku

Murilo Ribeiro: Influence of polyandry and male harassment on Gonipterus platensis

Francinah Ratsoma: Characterization of biofilm formation and  extracellular vesicles (EVs) in  Fusarium circinatum

Alinaswe Selebi: Re-evaluating the Cryphonectriaceae

Ruth Nante: Comparative genomics between the two forest fungal pathogens Dothistroma septosporum and Dothistroma pini

Question panel: Michal Slupski, Ashleigh Smith and Phumlani Nzuza

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Felix Fru on 30 May at 08h30. His presentation entitled "Fusarium circinatum research experience: My TWAS-DFG research sejour in Germany",  will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Silindle Maphosa

Ashleigh Smith: Characterisation of chemosensation genes and female sex pheromone in Thaumatotibia batrachopa (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)
Phumlani Nzuza: UAV Monitoring of Gonipterus sp. 2
Michal Slupski: Elucidating the circadian rhythm of Chrysoporthe austroafricana and its role in virulence

Question panel: Monique Muller, Melandre van Lill, Alandi Niewoudt and Julia Candotti

Please join us for MMM at 08:30. We will have a report back session of the Bio2022 conference.

Chair: Phophi Nethononda

Melandré van Lill: Rhizobial diversity associated with indigenous South African legumes of ecological and medicinal importance

Monique Muller: Population studies indicate multiple introductory events of Dothistroma pini into France

Alandi Nieuwoudt: Race typing of Exserohilum turcicum in South Africa

Julia Candotti: Towards haplotype and structural variant based genetic dissection of complex traits in Eucalyptus hybrids

Question panel: Leandri Klynsmith, Alisha van Heerden, Phophi Nethononda and Hannes Strydom

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Robert Mangani on 16 May at 08h30. His presentation, "Evaluating planting dates and cultivar choice of maize under dryland production in South Africa " will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

The annual meeting of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) and DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Plant Health Biotechnology (CPHB) has become one of the most important meetings relating to forest tree health in South Africa and globally. The 2022 TPCP/CPHB meeting will take place on the 10^th of May. This event is open to staff of member companies of the TPCP and other stakeholders in the TPCP and CPHB.

As has been the case in the past, the 33^rd annual meeting of the TPCP will focus on key issues relating to forest tree health in South Africa. Importantly, the meeting will again seek to provide feedback to forest industry and other stakeholders on programmes focused on dealing with threatening pest and disease problems following an integrated pest management approach.

The National Grain Research Programme was launched to support the national grain and oilseed industry through research and innovation. Our vision is to 1) increase collaboration between government, industry, local Universities and other research institutes; 2) increase engagements between grain and oilseed stakeholders and 3) to promote industry-relevant, outcomes-based research.

On 9 May 2022, the first annual NGRP research day will be hosted. During this meeting we seek to provide feedback to the grain industry and other stakeholders with researchers from the University of Pretoria, the University of the Free State and Stellenbosch University that will present an overview of grain related research projects. The meeting will take place virtually with the possibility of some hybrid interactions and is open to staff of NGRP members.

Should you be interested to join, please register using the registration form on the left panel of this page.

Chair: Pfano Mbedzi

Leandri Klynsmith: Chemosensory gene signatures for ecological niche and behavioural specialisation in Sirex noctilio

Alisha van Heerden: Development of a LAMP assay for the on-site diagnosis of the new Eucalyptus pathogen, Elsinoë necatrix using the characteristic elsinochrome toxin cluster as a marker

Phophi Nethononda: Smallholder farmer’s knowledge, perception and management practices of Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on maize (Zea mays) at Tshiombo and Dzindi irrigation schemes of Limpopo Province in South Africa

Hannes Strydom: Modelling the population dynamics of CRISPR-Cas9 in Sirex noctilio

Question panel: Dineo Mailula, Kenny Masuku and Preston Shaw

Please join us for the next presentation in the FABI International Seminar Series on 28 April at 16h00 (GMT+2). Dr. Svetlana Y. Folimonova, Associate Professor, from the Department of Plant Pathology, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA will present her talk entitled "Understanding cross-protection by Citrus tristeza virus: our quest for the answer to a century-old question".

Click here for more information and to register (if you have not done so before).

Chair: Privelege Makunde

Dineo Mailula: Catabolism of branched chain and aromatic amino acids to form fusel alcohols and fusel acetates by the Ceratocystidaceae.
Kenny Masuku: Functional characterization of ERG3 and ERG5 in ergosterol biosynthesis route in Fusarium circinatum and azole resistance
Preston Shaw: Genome-wide discovery of alternative splicing events in Ceratocystis using long-read sequencing

Question panel: Tumisang Mokgobu, Sean Schultze and Sumari Venter

Please join us for MMM on 25 April at 08h30. There will be a short presentation by Guangshuo Lin from the University of Copenhagen on the Podaxis project. The presentation will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Angel Maduke

Sumari Venter: The value of genetics and its role in the host immune response evasion of Deladenus siricidicola.
Tumisang Mokgobu: Pathogenicity of diverse African isolates of Cercospora zeina on maize.
Sean Schultze: Investigating the influence of a putative ribonuclease effector on Fusarium circinatum virulence in Pinus patula.

Question panel: Willem van der Westhuizen, Teresia Macharia, Deanné du Plessis and Lize Reinecke

Chair: Phinda Magagula

Willem van der Westhuizen:  Legume drought tolerance: assessing the slow-wilting phenotype among soybean, dry bean, and cowpea in South Africa
Teresia Macharia: Towards the Identification and Functional characterization of Meloidogyne javanica effector proteins involved in parasitism
Elmarie vd Merwe: The development and application of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tools to control the insect pest Sirex noctilio
Lize Reinecke: Efficacy of new oomycete fungicides and biological control agents for the management of Phytophthora root rot of citrus in South Africa

Question panel: Maxwell Kibor, Jostina Rakoma, Caitlin Gevers and Msizi Ramaoka

Please join us for a presentation by Bertus van Heerden on 11 April at 08h30. His presentation entitled "Why and how to learn programming for data analysis", will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Frances Lane

Caitlin Gevers: My title is the investigation of the admixture that has occurred between the genetically distinct Leptocybe invasa lineages in South Africa.

Msizi Ramaoka: The patterns of foraging for protein by fruit fly pests in citrus in South Africa

Maxwell Kibor: Diversity and agroecology of thrips (Thysanoptera) in the Levubu region of Limpopo province, South Africa

Jostina Rakoma: Mat genes in ambrosial fungi from the Ceratocystidaceae

Question panel: Kira Lynn, Katlego Kopotsa, Dylan Pullock and Nombulelo Qikani

Please join us for the next FABI International Seminar on Thursday 31 March at 16:00 (GMT+2). Dr. Jonàs Oliva from the Department of Vegetal Production and Forestry Science, Universitat de Lleida, Lleida, Spain will present his talk entitled "Functional Ecology of Forest Disease."

Click here for more information and to register (if you have not done so before).

Chair: Harmen Barten

Kira Lynn: Real-time PCR high-resolution melting curve analysis to detect Ceratocystis species in the Latin American clade
Katlego Kopotsa: The diversity of rhizobial symbionts of agriculturally cultivated Glycine max in South Africa
Dylan Pullock: Development of novel monitoring and control tools for citrus psyllids
Nombulelo Qikani: Identification and characterisation of fungi and Oomycetes on maize agricultural soils with a focus on plant pathogens

Question panel: Rudolph Strydom, Celiwe Nxumalo, Chizne Peremore and Tania Pogue

Please join us for Monday Morning meeting 28 March at 08h30. We will have presentations by Marianna Theyse from Phyto Solutions and Wiana Louw from The Southern African Grain Laboratory NPC.

Chair: Maxwell Kibor

Rudolph Strydom: Evaluating the efficacy of different control strategies in suppressing Spongospora subterranea f. sp. subterranea diseases on potatoes and soil inoculum levels
Celiwe Nxumalo: Functional characterization of Phytophthora parasitica PpRxLR1 and PpRxLR6 in Nicotiana benthamiana
Chizne Peremore: Extracellular Vesicles in virulence factor production of Fusarium verticillioides
Tania Pogue: Correlation of lure responses of South African fruit flies

Question panel: Langanani Matodzi, Melissa Joubert, Hanna Tate and Eloff Theron

Chair: Carlynn Jacobs

Langanani Matodzi:  Identification of mating-type genes and development of microsatellite markers in the genome sequences of fungal species that cause SDS in soybean
Melissa Joubert: Unchartered territory: unravelling infection by Avocado Sunblotch Viroid
Hannah Tate: Exploring chloroplast haplotype diversity within and between species with a focus on Eucalyptus grandis
Eloff Theron: Phosphonate sensitivity of Phytophthora nicotianae in South African citrus orchards and nurseries

Question panel: Marizanne Jones, Vera Röder, Alice Mthembu and Tiphany Nkomo

Please join us for Monday Morning Meeting 14 March at 08h30. Visitors from Czech Republic will be presenting their research. 

Michaela Svarcova:
How to resolve taxonomy in clonal fungal species

Adela Cmokova:
Ecological role of secondary metabolites in plant-fungal interactions

Karel Svec:
Microbial communities associated with bark beetles

Chair: Melissa Joubert

Marizanne Jones: Diversity and virulence of entomopathogens of invasive insect pests in South African Eucalyptus plantations.
Vera Röder: Analysing transcriptional response of style & anther filaments to environmental stress in Helianthus annuus.    
Alice Mthembu: Survey of fungal and oomycete diversity from maize fields soils in the Eastern Cape.
Tiphany Nkomo: Deciphering the mycorrhizal diversity and biochemical interactions associated with the orchid Epidendrum ibaguense.

Question panel: Bernard Smit, Innocent Rakubu, Valencia Mogashoa and Shae Swanepoel

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Josephine Quefflec on 7 March at 08h30. Her presentation,"Hijacking Cupid’s arrow: How to use reproductive biology to manage insect populations" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Sasha-Lee Gush

Innocent Rakubu: Efficacy, host-finding ability, and application of entomopathogenic nematodes on pupae of Gonipterus sp. 2.

Valencia Mogashoa: Development of a Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) model for screening resistant and susceptible Eucalyptus clones against Chrysoporthe austroafricana

Shae Swanepoel: The molecular dialogue between Eucalyptus grandis and the myrtle rust pathogen, Austropuccinia psidii

Bernard Smit: Promoting callus and shoot formation in Eucalypts with GRF4-GIF1 chimeric protein in vitro and in planta

Question panel: Sikelela Buthelezi, Lindokuhle Masimula, Mathew Harris and Kayla Midgely

Please join us for Monday Morning Meeting 28 February at 08h30. Dr. Nicky Creux, be discussing FABI's social awareness initiative. This will be followed by a presentation by Prof. Brett Hurley on the recent release of Anaphes nitens. Their presentations, will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Philani Dlamini

Sikelela Buthelezi: Characterization of the mating type genes  in Sclerotinia species
Lindokuhle Masimula: The interaction of Paraburkholderia species with agricultural legumes in South africa
Mathew Harris: Spatial and temporal patterns of C4 grass-associated endophyte communities
Kayla Midgely: Functional analysis and sequencing of CRN effectors from Phytophthora cinnamomi

Question panel: Mamokete Bokhale, Philani Dlamini and Thembela Lulane

In early 2022 the WP 7.03.16 will host three symposia highlighting the work of graduate students in the disciplines of Behavioural and Chemical Ecology of forest insects. This second symposium will be focussed on the regions of North and South / Central America. The symposia will occur virtually and are open to everyone to attend; however, only students will present their work. Talks will be pre-recorded and submitted in advance of each symposia for judging. The top three from each region will be presented for a total of six student presentations per symposia. The best talk from each region (i.e., two will be selected from each symposia) will be recognized and our goal is to offer financial assistance to each winner to attend the IUFRO All-Division 7 meeting in 2022 in Portugal where the winners will present their talks in a symposium highlighting student research in the working party.

Please register here if you wish to participate.

Please join us for a presentation by Dr Dawit Kidanemariam on Monday 21 February at 08h30. His presentation, entitled "Viruses of aroids in East Africa" will follow the formal part of MMM.

Chair: Julia Candotti

Mamokete Bokhale: SlyA and PhoP transcriptional regulators role in cell metabolism of Pectobacterium brasilense 1692.

Philani Dlamini: CRISPR-Cas9 genetic editing of Banana for resistance against the banana bunchy top virus

Thembela Lulane: Evaluating the effect of oncogenes and different hormone treatments on regeneration of wounded Eucalyptus tissues

Question panel: Ayaovi Agbessenou, Janine Bisschoff and Deanne du Plessis 

Please join us for a presentation by Adv. Lawrence Baloyi and John Visagie from the Department of Research and Innovation, University of Pretoria on 14 February at 08h30. Their presentation, will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Sikelela Buthelezi

Ayaovi Agbessenou: Potential of integrating entomopathogenic and endophytic fungal based biopesticides for sustainable management of the tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

Janine Bisschoff: The evaluation of new oomycete fungicides for the management of Phytophthora nicotianae in citrus orchards in South Africa

Deanne du Plessis: Functional characterization of a laccase of Leptographium wageneri

Question panel:Joshua Tsamba, Lukanyo Makhabane, Edwin Wanjofu

Please join us for a presentation by Dr Lieschen De Vos on Monday 7 February at 08h30. Her presentation "Accessory chromosomes within the Fusarium fujikuroi species complex" will follow the formal part of MMM.

Chair: Dineo Mailula

Joshua Tsamba: Are drivers of species richness sensitive to grain size?

Lukanyo Makhabane: Finding a needle in a haystack: Evidence of Repeat-Induced Point (RIP) mutations in members of Basidiomycota, with special reference to Armillaria fungi

Edwin Wanjofu: Nodulation and nitrogen fixation effectiveness of chickpea associated Mesorhizobium strains under controlled conditions in South Africa

Question panel: Tanya Welgemoed, Vasili Balios and Kyle Leeuwendaal

Please join us for a presentation by Carol Nonkwelo from the Department of Research and Innovation, University of Pretoria on 31 January at 08h30. Her presentation, will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Kira Lynn

Tanya Welgemoed: Signatures of selection in African populations of the maize pathogen Cercospora zeina.

Vasili Balios: Engineering long distance graft transmissible floral induction in Eucalyptus grandis.

Kyle Leeuwendaal: Improving specificity and throughput of diagnostic PCRs aimed at plant pathogens detection

Question Panel: Anien Viljoen and Frances Lane

In early 2022 the WP 7.03.16 will host three symposia highlighting the work of graduate students in the disciplines of Behavioural and Chemical Ecology of forest insects. The first symposium will be focussed on the regions of Europe and Africa, the second on the regions of North and South / Central America, and the third on the regions of Asia and Oceania. The symposia will occur virtually and are open to everyone to attend; however, only students will present their work. Talks will be pre-recorded and submitted in advance of each symposia for judging. The top three from each region will be presented for a total of six student presentations per symposia. The best talk from each region (i.e., two will be selected from each symposia) will be recognized and our goal is to offer financial assistance to each winner to attend the IUFRO All-Division 7 meeting in 2022 in Portugal where the winners will present their talks in a symposium highlighting student research in the working party.

Please fill in the registration form on the left menu of this page if you are interested in joining the symposia as a viewer or a presenter. After registration you will be contacted by email with a link to attend each symposium.

24th of January 2022

Europe and Africa session

12.00 UTC

21st of February 2022

North, Central and South America

18.00 UTC

28th of March 2022

Asia and Oceania session

04.00 UTC

Please join us for Monday Morning Meeting, led by Prof Bernard Slippers.

Please join us for FABI's first Monday Morning Meeting for 2022 where Prof. Bernard Slippers will welcome everyone back for the new year.

Please join us for a special seminar on 9 December at 11:30, where Prof Maes and a Postdoc in his group, Dr René Heim will be presenting the following talks:

Prof Wouter Maes: Thermal remote sensing for plant-water relations and stress detection in agriculture and ecology
Dr René Heim: Estimating leaf area index and chlorophyll using multi-angular UAV observations and radiative transfer modelling

Chair: Johannes Christoff Joubert

Anien Viljoen: Mitochondrial genome size diversity of Ceratocystidaceae species. 

Frances Lane: Progress on understanding unidirectional mating-type switching: a Ceratocystis albifundus case study.

Question Panel: Jade Ashmore, Hamish Craze and Lihan Esterhuizen

Please join us for a presentation by FABI Postdoc Dr. Neriman Yilmaz on 6 December at 08h30. Her presentation, entitled "Fantastic Mycotoxigenic Fungi and where to find them" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Mathew Harris

Jade Ashmore: Monitoring Gonipterus sp.2 egg development for CRISPR-Cas9 optimization.

Hamish Craze: The use of deep learning for identification of grey leaf spot in maize with mixed diseases under field conditions.

Lihan Esterhuizen: Molecular interactions between Teratosphaeria destructans and Eucalyptus: Proanthocyanidin biosynthesis in Eucalyptus as a defense response against leaf infection by T. destructans and evaluating the use of hyperspectral imaging to detect and quantify T. destructans infection.

Question Panel: Sinethemba Nkosi, Cassandra Schoeman and Harm Barten.

Please join us for Agil Katumanyane's Prestige Seminar on Tuesday 30 November at 14h00. Her seminar, entitled "Entomopathogenic nematode interactions with white grubs from forest and sugarcane plantations", will be hosted virtually on the Zoom platform.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI Postdoc Dr. Hiroyuki Suzuki on 29 November at 08h30. His presentation entitled "The first report of Cryphonectria canker on Corymbia henryi in South Africa" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for the next FABI International Seminar on Thursday 25 November at 16:00 (GMT+2). Research Director Dr. Nicolas Langlade from the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Division of Plant Biology and Breeding, France will present his talk entitled "Multi-scale modelling to predict and understand sunflower tolerance to abiotic stresses and uses of high-throughput phenotyping."

Click here for more information and to register (if you have not done so before).

Chair: Katlego Kopotso

Cassandra Schoeman: The Encephalartos natalensis-cyanobacterial coralloid root partnership for nitrogen acquisition

Harmen Barten: Evaluating the effect of genetic variation on fitness traits of the egg parasitoid Anaphes nitens

Sinethemba Nkosi: CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing towards resistance to the Banana bunchy top virus in banana

Question Panel: Uyabongeka Memela, Gabriel Chirunda and Phrasia Mapfumo

Please join us for Book Club Monday on 22 November at 08h30. Presentations of various and interesting books will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Ginna Granados

Gabriel Chirunda: The use of metabolomical analyses for fungal phytopathological diagnosis.

Phrasia Mapfumo: Assessing the effect of planting date and environmental conditions on sunflower development, Sclerotinia head rot incidences and yield.

Uyabongeka Memela: The physiological impact of heatwave conditions on anthesis and pollination on domesticated sunflowers (Helianthus Annuus L.)

Question Panel: Mabodiba Maake, Carla Buitendag and Tsakane Myambo

Venue: Online platform

Please join us for SASSB 2021 Webinar Series on Wednesday 17 November at 16:00 (GMT+2). 

The invited plenary speaker Dr. Philippe Lemey from the Rega Institute at KU Leuven, Belgium will be presenting. His talk entitled "Evolutionary origins of SARS-CoV-2 and tracking its spread using phylodynamic data integration” will be followed by the AGM.

Click here for more information (or to register if you have not done so before) for SASSB 2021 Webinar Series.

Please join us for a seminar on Monday 15 November by Dr. David Read.  His presentation "Rebuilding plant virology capacity at FABI," will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Caitlin Gevers

Mabodiba Maake: Identification and characterization of Bradyrhizobium strains associated with Genisteae indigenous to South Africa.

Carla Buitendag: Control of grey leaf spot disease in maize using RNA interference.

Tsakane Miyambo: Investigating the genetic diversity, population structure and virulence of Rosellinia necatrix in South Africa.

Question Panel: Lazarus Mawima, Gerhard Botha and Shivan Bezuidenhout

Please join us for the Ethics, compliance and anti-fraud awareness training on Monday 8 November by Ms Olga Granova-Mooi. The training, will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Firehiwot Eshetu

Lazarus Mavima: The biology and evolution of South African Paraburkholderia species with agricultural potential

Gerhard Botha: Flower Blight in Macadamia Orchards in South Africa

 
Shivan Bezuidenhout: Characterisation of fungal diversity on South African soybeans

Question Panel: Ongeziwe Mbhele and Kevin Scheepers

Chair: Jane Chesergon

Ongeziwe Mbhele: Microsatellite-based clonality among isolates of Fusarium circinatum does not always extend to phenotype.

Kevin Scheepers: Effect of elevated CO2 concentrations on maize susceptibility to grey leaf spot (GLS) disease.

Question panel: Cheyenne Theron and Daniella Kramer

Please join us for a presentation by FABI Postdoc Dr. Quentin Santana on 25 October at 08h30. His presentation entitled "Getting ready for UAV based Remote Sensing" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Claudette Dewing

Cheyenne Theron: The species diversity of Lophodermium in the Southern Hemisphere.

Daniella Kramer: Hybridization between self-fertile species of Ceratocystis.

Question panel: Claire Randolph and Christopher Liakos

Please join us for a presentation by Dr. Luis Pertierra on 18 October at 08h30. His presentation entitled "Going brrrfoot: exploring spatial analyses in polar macroecology" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Chair: Felipe Balocchi

Claire Randolph: Population genetics of Fusarium euwallaceae in South Africa

Christopher Liakos: Bacterial microbiome of healthy and diseased storage onion bulbs from Washington State, USA

Question panel: Brenda Salasini and Dee Twiddy

Chair: Juanita Avontuur

Dee Twiddy: Characterization of husk rot causal agents of Macadamia in South Africa

Brenda Salasini: Is Fidelity a Strength? A case study to examine the role of RxLR effectors in delimiting host range of Phytophthora spp.

Question panel: Vinolia Danki and Elisa Pal

Please join us for a Covid-19 related seminar on Monday 4 October by Dr. Veronica Ueckerman. Her presentation, will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Vinolia Danki: Understanding genomic regions associated with laccase expression in Ceratocystis albifundus with the aid of GWAS

Elisa Pal: Genetic diversity of the two-spotted stink bug Bathycoelia distincta (Pentatomidae) associated to macadamia orchards in South Africa

Please join us for a seminar on Monday 27 September by Dr. Leti Kleyn.  Her presentation, "The invisible place: A journey in
documenting sense of place in the Tankwa Karoo" will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Vinolia Danki

Lizzy Ramela

Please join us for a presentation by FABI Postdoc Dr. Godfrey Kgatle on 20 September at 08h30. His presentation entitled: "GRP Extension and Diagnostics: Which Isolates would you like to add to the grain research shopping cart? " will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Nam Pham: Eucalyptus scab and shoot malformation: A new and serious foliar disease of Eucalyptus caused by Elsinoe necatrix sp. nov.

Mmapaseka Malebe: Bacterial diversity of Acacia crassicarpa seeds using 16s rRNA gene community profiling.

Nam Pham

Mmapaseka (Charmaine) Malebe

Please join us for a seminar on Monday 13 September by Dr. David Nsibo.  His presentation, entitled "Population genetics of foliar pathogens of maize and the future of food and agriculture" will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Precious Sedibane:The antimicrobial activity of Pectobacterium brasilliense 1692  outer membrane vesicles in microbial interactions

Verushka Ibanez: Bacterial microbiome analysis of storage onions in Georgia, USA

Please join us for a seminar on Monday 6 September by Dr. Fiona Mumoki.  Her presentation entitled "Reproductive parasitism by the laying workers of the Cape honey bee Apis mellifera capensis" , will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Workshop to be hosted by SASSB and FABI on the 3 Sept 2021, 10h00 – 13h00 SAST (UTC + 2): Biogeographic reconstruction using RevBayes. It will be presented by Dr. Isabel Sanmartin from the Royal Botanical Garden, CSIC, Madrid.

This workshop is aimed at postgraduate students and researchers interested in learning about model-based biogeography and the open software RevBayes, an R-like interactive environment for the modelling of evolutionary problems.

Please join us for the SASSB 2021 Webinar Series on Thursday 2 September at 16:00 (GMT+2).

The first talk will be by invited plenary speaker Dr. Isabel Sanmartin, Department of Plant Biodiversity and Conservation, Royal Botanical Garden, CSIC, Madrid, Spain. She will present her talk entitled "The Rand Flora Revisited: New approaches for bridging the micro and macroevolutionary levels in biogeography and evolution” followed by two presentations by:

Joanne Bentley - African Climate Development Initiative (ACDI), University of Cape Town: Lineage origin, historical migration patterns, and the contributions of geographic proximity and ecological filtering to dispersal in an African-centred paper daisy lineage.

Seth Musker - University of Bayreuth (linked to UCT): The genomics of dynamic diversification on a continental archipelago: the case of Erica abietina from the Cape Floristic Region: Or ‘What to call the things that I’m calling things’.

Click here for more information (or to register if you have not done so before) for SASSB 2021 Webinar Series.

Medha Sood: Carbon supply for normal xyloplast functioning in VND7- inducible Arabidopsis

Nomakula Zim: Towards understanding the pathogenicity of Xanthomonas vasicola

Please join us for a seminar on Monday 30 August by Prof. Juan Vorster.  His presentation, will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Venue: Online platform

Please join us for the next FABI International Seminar Series presentation on Thursday 26 August at 16:00 (GMT+2). Dr. Arunaloke Chakrabarti from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India, will present his talk entitled "Mucormycosis in India.”

Click here for more information (or to register if you have not done so before).

Felipe Balocchi: Unravelling the fungal diversity associated to Pewenomyces canker disease of Araucaria in Chile.

Kristiann Labuschagne: Characterization of Bowman-Birk Inhibitors (BBIs) under drought, heat and salt stress in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana.

Anneri Lotter: Structural variation between Eucalyptus urophylla and E. grandis haplogenomes of an F1 hybrid.

Luki-Marie Scheepers: The wattle bagworm: the beginning of a pheromone study.

Please join us for a 'two for the price of one' presentation by FABI Proff. Brenda Wingfield and Mike Wingfield on 16 August at 08h30. Their presentation, entitled "Quest for an enigmatic yeast: Lessons from the unexpected and driven by curiosity" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Ginna Granados: Epidemiology of Dothistroma septosporum on tropical Pinus tecunumanii LE in Colombia

Nomaswazi Maseko: Analysis of the regulatory regions of BUSCO genes from species in the Ceratocystidaceae family

Jane Ramaswe: Fitness-associated with the germination rate of different Fusarium circinatum strains

Trystan Nadasen: Functional analysis of the CzSn1 candidate effector and optimisation of the effectoromics pipeline for screening Cercospora zeina effectors

Please join us for Yosef Hamba Tola's Prestige Seminar on Tuesday 3 August at 15h00. His seminar, entitled "Characterization of the honey bee and stingless bee gut microbiota: A hidden diversity and host-specific microbiomes from sub-Saharan-African region", will be hosted virtually on the Zoom platform.

Nicole van Vuuren: Fairy circles - Are the fungi relevant

Tshaimo Phakalatsane: Identification and characterization of mating type genes of Chrysoporthe zambiensis and Chrysoporthe syzygiicola

Please join us for a seminar on Monday 26 July by Prof. Dave Berger.  His presentation, entitled "Artificial intelligence and the future of plant health monitoring" will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

 
Idea Albertina Makowe: The Biology of Centrodora damoni (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae)

Lazarus Takawira: Cistrome analysis of selected MYB-family TFs in Eucalyptus and characterization of these transcriptional interactions

Please join us for a presentation by FABI Postdoc Dr. Katrin Fitza on 19 July at 08h30. Her presentation entitled "Diversity, specificity and co-evolution in the Sirex – Amylostereum – Deladenus symbiosis" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Patience Modiba: Enterobacter cloacae as an onion pathogen

Deborah Nahr Mensah: Non-ribosomal peptide synthetase gene clusters and the architectures of NRPS-dependent siderophore synthetases in Armillaria species

Please join us for Wilma Nel's Prestige seminar "Ambrosia beetles and their fungal mutualists from South Africa" on 13 July at 15h00 (GMT+2). 

Please join us for a seminar on Monday 12 July by Dr. Anja Buttstedt.  Her presentation, will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for a seminar by Dr Anja Buttstedt on Monday 12 July at 08h30. Her presentation, entitled "Honey bees’ major royals" will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Mondli Xaba: Long read based de novo assembly of the Acacia mearnsii genome

Phinda Magagula: Elucidating the shift in rhizosphere microbial community of avocado trees infected with white root rot in search of potential biocontrol agents

Please join us for a presentation by FABI Postdoc Dr Janneke Aylward on 5 July at 08h30. Her presentation, entitled "Salvaging a genome from a contaminated sample," will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Jane Chepergon: Identification and characterization of short linear motifs (SLiMs) in "Core" RxLR effector proteins of Phytophthora parasitica

Jenna-Lee Price: The fungal diversity and head rots associated with emerging maize farms in the Eastern Cape

Please join us for Joséphine Queffelec's Prestige Seminar "Influence of reproductive biology on the invasive dynamics of Sirex noctilio" on 30 June at 15h00.

Please join us for a seminar on Monday 28 June by Dr. Michal Gwizdala.  His presentation, entitled "What we learn when photosynthesis glows? An introduction to fluorescence measurements in photosynthesis research" will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Casey Gill: PacBio sequencing of the fungal communities associated with ambrosia beetles trapped during a survey in South African avocado orchards.

Claudette Dewing: Current insights into fungal diversity exploration: Can we study the hidden majority?

Please join us for a presentation by FABI Postdoc Dr Danielle Roodt on 21 June at 08h30. Her presentation entitled "Evo-devo of plant secondary growth traits in understudied land plant lineages" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for a seminar on Monday 14 June by the Director of FABI, Prof Bernard Slippers.  His presentation entitlted "Innovation requires mastery and diversity", will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Angel Maduke: Keeping up with the Botryosphaeriaceas in the Macadamia canopy.

Alicia Fick: Putative avocado NLR gene expression in Phytophthora root rot resistant and susceptible avocado rootstocks.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI Postdoc Dr Stephanie van Wyk on 7 June at 08h30. Her presentation, entitled "Virtual applications and 4.0 technology fuelling advances in fungal genomics" will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Ipeleng Randome: A network-based lines of evidence pipeline for identification of novel wood formation regulators in Eucalyptus, and functional characterisation using hairy root transformation.

Christof Joubert: Tri-trophic Interactions of Gonipterus sp. n. 2

Please join us for a seminar on Monday 31 May by Prof Vinesh Maharaj.  His presentation, will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for a seminar by FABI Postdoc Dr Raphael Ployet on Monday 24 May. His presentation entitled "Combining systems genetics and artificial intelligence to dissect the regulatory networks of wood formation in Eucalyptus", will follow the formal part of the MMM.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Desre Pinard entitled: Xyloplasts are specialized plastids in developing secondary xylem that manage carbon partitioning diurnally to ensure consistent secondary cell wall deposition. Her presentation will follow the formal part of the MMM. 

WorkshopWe want to hear about your systematics research! The Southern African Society for Systematic Biology is hosting a webinar series to enable sharing of systematic research, both local and international, and to offer an online space for discussion about your systematic biology research, thoughts, & questions. The webinar will be a two-hour session on the First Thursday of the month at 16h00 SA Standard Time/Central Africa Time (UTC+02:00). The first half will be either recorded or live talks by an invited plenary speaker who will share their work on a specific theme, followed by a shorter talk within the same theme. After the talks and a Q&A session, the online space will be held open for 30 minutes for informal discussions and chats about the research presented, or other topics of interest to the systematics community.

For a line-up of speakers, you can also visit the SASSB website. Links will be distributed following registration, so be sure to sign up! Please contact Prof Fanus Venter if you have any questions.

SASSB Youtube channel: Click here

Previous events, themes and speakers

3 June 2021: Theme: Calibrating phylogenetic trees. invited speaker: Dr. Seraina Klopfstein. (Click here to view presentation)

1 July 2021: (Joint session with FABI international series). Theme: Fungal evolution. Invited speaker: Dr. David Hibbett. (Click here to view presentation)

5 August 2021: Theme: Systematics In Angiosperm Taxonomy and Evolution. Invited speaker: Dr. Sandra Knapp. (Click here to view presentation)

2 September 2021: Theme: Biogeography. Invited speaker: Dr. Isabel Sanmartin. (Click here to view presentation)

3 September 2021: Workshop on Bayesian methods in biogeography, presented by Dr. Isabel Sanmartin.

14 October 2021: Theme: Digital taxonomic data. Invited speaker: Donat Agosti, Plazi, Bern, Switzerland.

15 October 2021: Workshop on Data liberation from taxonomic literature using Plazi, presented by Marcus Guidoti, Carolina Socorowicz, and Donat Agosti

17 November 2021: (Join session with SASSB AGM). Theme Bayesian spatiotemporal reconstruction of SARS-CoV-2 spread. Invited speaker: Dr. Philippe Lemey, Rega Institute at KU Leuven, Belgium.

Scheduled events, themes and speakers

7 April 2022: Theme: Palaeosystematics Invited speaker: Prof. Jonah Choiniere

5 May 2022: Theme: Bacterial genomic diversity Invited speaker: Dr. Luis M. Rodriguez-R

2 June 2022: Theme: Plant Systematics and Evolution Invited speaker: Prof. Vinita Gowda

3 November 2022: Theme: The SeqCode, Invited speaker: Dr. Marike Palmer (click here to view presentation)

The annual meeting of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) and DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Plant Health Biotechnology (CPHB) has become one of the most important meetings relating to forest tree health in South Africa and globally. The 2021 TPCP/CPHB meeting will take place on the 4^th of May. This event is open to staff of member companies of the TPCP and other stakeholders in the TPCP and CPHB. Due to Covid-19 and its regulations, this event will take place virtually with a possibility that some form of hybrid interactions could be possible.

As has been the case in the past, the 32^nd annual meeting of the TPCP will focus on key issues relating to forest tree health in South Africa. Importantly, the meeting will again seek to provide feedback to forest industry and other stakeholders on programmes focused on dealing with threatening pest and disease problems following an integrated pest management approach.

Please note that the National Symposium on Biological Invasions 2021 organized by the Centre for Biological Control (CBC) in collaboration with Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) will also happen virtually on the 5^th and 6^th of May. Should you are also interested in joining this event, please register here.

During October, November, and December, five webinars will be hosted, every two weeks, by various working parties of IUFRO Division 7, including one webinar co-organised by a working party in Division 2. The webinar series provides a platform for scientific exchange focussed on a wide variety of topics that are all relevant to forest health. Speakers presenting in the webinars include established scientists as well as graduate students and early-career researchers and there will be an opportunity for discussion following the presentations.  The start time for each webinar differs to accommodate the organisers and speakers from different countries. All webinars will be recorded and uploaded to YouTube for later viewing. All researchers are encouraged to participate in the webinar series and registration is required to access the Zoom Link. Further information on timing, topics, and speakers is provided below. We look forward to engaging with you on this platform.

For more information on IUFRO Division 7- Forest Health: (https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-7/)

Please contact Irene Barnes (irene.barnes@fabi.up.ac.za) if you have any questions.

Webinar 1: Tree resistance to diseases and pests – Interaction with and facilitation by the microbiome

Date: 13th October 2021

Time: 16:00 Johannesburg (14:00 UTC)

Format: 90 minutes with 3 speakers (20 min each) and 30 mins of a final panel discussion

Speakers: 

1. Kathrin Blumenstein (University of Göttingen, Germany): Diplodia Tip Blight outbreak in Scots pine - influences of the mycobiome and abiotic factors.
2. George Newcombe (University of Idaho, USA): Pathogens in the trillion-tree era.
3. Steve Wakelin (Scion, New Zealand): Pinus radiata: a model tree-microbiome system for a rapidly changing world.
4. General discussion (30 min)

Organizers: WP 7.03.11 and WP 2.02.15; Caterina Villari (University of Georgia, US), Richard Sniezko (USDA FS, USA) and Dana Nelson (USDA FS, USA). 

Contact: Caterina Villari (cvillari@uga.edu) and Richard Sniezko (richard.sniezko@usda.gov)

YouTube link for Webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEjnvqpxk8g 

Webinar 2: Forest Health in Southern Hemisphere commercial plantations

Date: 27th October, 2021

Time: 12:00 noon Johannesburg (10:00 UTC)

Format: 75 minutes with 4 speakers (12 min each) and 20 mins of a final panel discussion

Speakers: 

1. Angus Carnegie (NSW DPI, Australia): Impact of bushfires on pine plantations and subsequent salvage operations.
2. Brett Hurley (FABI, South Africa): Development of a coordinated forest pest surveillance strategy in South Africa.
3. Marthin Tarigan (APRIL, Indonesia): Management of insects and pathogens in the large Acacia (Fabaceae) and Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) commercial nurseries in Sumatra, Indonesia.
4. Rafaela Pavani (IBA, Brazil): One health for a changing world.
5. General discussion (20 min)

Organizers:  WP 7.02.13 Stuart Fraser (Scion, NZ), Angus Carnegie (NSW DPI, Australia), Carlos Perez (Universidad de la Republica Uruguay, Uruguay), Rodrigo Ahumada (Arauco, Chile) 

Contact: Stuart Fraser (Stuart.Fraser@scionresearch.com)

YouTube link for Webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfHT2P5POBY

Webinar 3: Molecular tools for the advancement of research on Vascular Wilt Pathogens

Date: 10th November 2021

Time: 16:00 Johannesburg (14:00 UTC)

Format: 90 minutes with 4 speakers and 20 mins of a final panel discussion

Speakers: 

1. Welcome and general introduction to session: Irene Barnes (FABI, South Africa) 
2. Nicola Luchi (CNR, Italy): Advanced methods for diagnosis of invasive forest pathogens with a particular focus on Ceratocystis platani. 
3. Frances Lane (FABI, South Africa): Transformation systems for the Ceratocystidaceae. 
4. Thais Campos de Oliveira (Laval University, Canada): Functional analyses Elm-Ophiostoma interactions.
5. Marc Hughes (University of Hawaii): Diagnosing and managing Rapid Ohia Death, an emerging threat to native Metrosideros sp. of the Pacific. 
6. General discussion 

Organizers:  WP 7.02.03 Alberto Santini (IPSP, CNR, Italy), Irene Barnes (FABI, South Africa), Louis Bernier (Laval University, Canada)

Contact: Irene Barnes (Irene.barnes@fabi.up.ac.za)

YouTube link for Webinar:https://youtu.be/UdVqZt8zWjc

Webinar 4: Collaborative approaches to global tree health challenges

Date:  24 November 2021

Time: 10:00 Johannesburg (08:00 UTC)

Format: 70 minutes with 3 speakers  and discussion

Speakers:

1. Welcome and general introduction to the session: Mariella Marzano (FR, UK)
2. Alice Goodenough (CCRI, UK): The Future of UK Treescapes research programme: interdisciplinary approaches for resilience.
3. Melanie Mark-Shadbolt (Te Tira Whakamātaki): Oranga (wellbeing): an Indigenous forest health research programme utilising mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge).
4. Peter Crow (FR, UK): Sustainable citizen science engagement: Lessons learned after eight years of the Observatree project.
5. General discussion

Organisers: WP 7.03.15 Mariella Marzano (Forest Research, UK), Robert Haight (USFS, USA), Tom Holmes (USFS, USA), E. Carina H. Keskitalo (Umea University, Sweden), Julie Urquhart (CCRI, UK)

Contact: Mariella Marzano (mariella.marzano@forestresearch.gov.uk)

YouTube link for Webinar:https://youtu.be/xQ48y9UryxQ

Webinar 5: Updating information on forest diseases and insect pests in the tropics

Date: 8th December 2021

Time: 08:00 Johannesburg (06:00 UTC, 02:00 EDT)

Format: 90 minutes with 4 speakers (15 min each)

Speakers: 

1. Welcome and general introduction to session: Sri Rahayu (Fac. Of Forestry Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia).  
2. Carlos A Rodas (Colombia): Forest pest and disease information update in Colombia. 
3. Abdul Ghafur and Noor Farikhah Haneda: Forest pest and disease information update in Indonesia.
4. Pham Quang Thu (Vietnam): Forest pest and disease information update in Vietnam.
5. Arthur Chung and Farid Ahmad (Malaysia): Forest pest and disease information update in Malaysia.  
6. General discussion 

Organizers: WP 7.02.07 Sri Rahayu (Gadja Mada University, Indonesia), Paul Bosu (CSIR, Ghana), Carlos Rodas (Smurfit Kappa, Columbia)

Contact: Sri Rahayu (sri.rahayu2013@ugm.ac.id)

YouTube link for Webinar: https://youtu.be/VbIeOo5A7kI

University of Pretoria Deputy Dean: Research and Postgraduate Education, Prof. Vinesh Maharaj will be the guest speaker at the FABI Monday Morning Meeting on Monday 19 April.

Please join us for a seminar by FABI Postdoc Dr Arista Fourie on Monday 12 April. Her presentation, entitled "It takes "guts" to understand stink bugs" will follow the formal part of the MMM.

IUFRO Working Party 7.03.16 webinar series

Please join us for the next seminar of the seminar series "Behavioral and chemical ecology of bark and woodboring insects".

This session will take place on April 1 at 18:00 (GMT+2). The focus of this webinar is "Chemical ecology of Ips typographus-Norway Spruce Interactions". The three speakers invited for this session are Sigrid Netherer from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Anna Jirosová from the Czech University of Life Sciences and Raimund Nagel from Universität Leipzig.

Click here for more information and to register for the webinar series.

Please join us for a Postdoc seminar on Monday 29 March by Dr Velushka Swart entitled: Unraveling avocado defense: The role of callose in Phytophthora root rot resistance. Her presentation will follow the formal part of the MMM.

IUFRO Working Party 7.03.16 webinar series

Please join us for the next seminar of the seminar series "Behavioral and chemical ecology of bark and woodboring insects".

This session will take place on March 18 at 18:00 (GMT+2). The focus of this webinar is "Behavioral and Invasion Ecology of Hylurgus ligniperda". The four speakers invited for this session are Ecki Brockerhoff from the Swiss Federal Research Institute, Nicolas Meurisse from Scion, Kevin Chase from the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory and Lea Bischofberger from ETH Zurich.

Click here for more information and to register for the webinar series.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI Postdoc Dr Robert Backer. His presentation, entitled "Development of a high-quality, chromosome-level Avocado Reference Genome - An update from the the Avocado Genome Consortium," will follow the formal part of the MMM. 

UFRO Working Party 7.03.16 webinar series

Please join us for the next seminar of the seminar series "Behavioral and chemical ecology of bark and woodboring insects".

This session will take place on 4 March at 18h00 (GMT+2). The title of this webinar is "Climate change and bark beetles: Impact on behavior at individual and population levels". The four speakers invited for this session are Barbara Bentz from the USDA Forest Service, Allan Carroll from the University of British Columbia, Jeff Garnas from the University of New Hampshire and Richard Hofstetter from Northern Arizona University.

Click here for more information and to register for the webinar series.

Please join us for a presentation by UP library liaison officer to FABI, Rianie van der Linde on Monday 22 February. Her presentation "Library offerings to FABI researchers" will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

IUFRO Working Party 7.03.16 webinar series

Please join us for the next seminar of the seminar series "Behavioral and chemical ecology of bark and woodboring insects".

This session will take place on 18 February at 18h00 (GMT+2). The webinar will focus on the orientation behavior of forest insects. The three speakers invited for this session are Ring Carde from the University of California-Riverside, Harold Thistle from the USDA Forest Service and Jeremy Allison from Natural Resources Canada.

Click here for more information and to register for the webinar series.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Andi Wilson on Monday 15 February at 08h30. Her presentation, entitled "The birds and the bees... But the fungi too" will follow the formal part of MMM.

Please join us for the Prestige Seminar of Ntombikayise Nkomo on 1 February at 14h30 on the Zoom platform. 

Her presentation is entitled "The use of transcriptome and functional analysis to unravel the role played by PhoP and SlyA in the biology of Pectobacterium brasiliense1692".

FABI Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Gabrielle Carstensen will present a seminar entitled "The importance of mental health and tips to deal with COVID-19 in 2021" on Monday 1 February at 08h30. This presentation will follow the formal part of the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for a presentation by Prof. Sarah De Saeger from the Centre of Excellence in Mycotoxicology and Public Health at Ghent University, Belgium on 28 January at 16h00 (GMT+2). The title of her talk is "Mycotoxins, an important threat to human health?".

Click here for more information or to register (if you had not done so previously). 

IUFRO WP 7.03.16 & 7.03.05 – Seminar Series on Behavioral and chemical ecology of bark and woodboring insects.

January 21 - Plant Defense and Biotic and Abiotic Stressors

Nadir Erbilgin, University of Alberta

18:00 - 18:15 Introduction by seminar leader

18:15 - 18:30 "Identifying anatomical and chemical defense fingerprints in Alberta lodgepole pine against mountain pine beetle" by Jennifer Klutsch, University of Alberta

18:30 - 18:45 "Presumed resistant: using current constitutive chemistry to predict historic resistance to insect outbreak" by Ken Keefover-Ring, University of Wisconsin-Madison

18:45 - 19:00 "Stress promotes access to alternate hosts for emerald ash borer" by Don Cipollini, Wright State University

19:00 - 19:30 Open discussion

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE SEMINAR START TIME IS 16:00 UTC

Please click here for more information and to register for this event. 

FABI will host the 52^nd Southern African Society for Plant Pathology Conference as a virtual event from Future Africa on 20 January, starting at 10h00 (GMT+2). Presentations will be streamed via a virtual platform but FABIans are encouraged to attend in person although COVID-19 protocols will be strictly observed. The External Stakeholder Advisory Board meeting will follow this event.

Provisional Programme:

Dear SASPP Colleagues

Due to Covid-19 situation, our in-person biennial congress of the Southern African Society for Plant Pathology will be postponed to January 2022, but we will have an online event on 20 January 2021 to celebrate the IYPH2020, and to reconnect as a Society after this very disruptive year.

The meeting will be a hybrid in-person and online event. We intend to have a few people in person at Future Africa, while accommodating the majority of members online.

Apart from a keynote speaker which will be Prof Sophien Kamoun (The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, United Kingdom), we will also have six talks from Postdoctoral fellows or PhD students on work published in 2020.

During this event, we will also celebrate the launch of the special issue on plant health of SAJSci and a book on the history of Plant Pathology and the announcement of the Mildenhall Award.

If you wish to attend this event, please fill in the registration from accessible via the left panel of this page. A small in-person group will be possible on the day at Future Africa Campus, the Innovation Africa, University of Pretoria. If you are considering joining us in person, please indicate this in the registration form.

The program will be as follows: 

Contact: Bernard Slippers; bernard.slippers@fabi.up.ac.za

Please join us for FABI's first Monday Morning Meeting for 2021 where Prof. Bernard Slippers will welcome everyone back for the new year.

Lazarus Mavima: The biology and evolution of South African Paraburkholderia species with agricultural potential

Uyabongeka Memela: The physiological impact of heat wave conditions on anthesis and pollination in domesticated sunflowers.

Following the launch of the IUFRO Working Party 7.03.16 in 2020, a webinar series was organized to promote the new working party and to highlight research focused on the behavioral and chemical ecology of forest insects. Following the success of that webinar series, the Working Parties 7.03.16 and 7.03.05 have collaborated to develop a webinar series on the “Behavioral and chemical ecology of bark and woodboring insects”. The webinar series is co-hosted by the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, the Institute for Forest Entomology, Forest Pathology and Forest Protection, BOKU, the Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay and the Canadian Forest Service.  This series consists of six webinars, each with a brief introduction to the subject and 2-3 research talks and will cover a wide range of topics related to the behavioral and chemical ecology of bark and woodboring insects. These virtual seminars are open to all registered participants.

Please fill in the registration form on the left menu of this page if you are interested in attending any of the seminars (please see the list of seminars, speakers and dates in the drop down menu on the left).  After registration you will be contacted by email with a link to attend the seminars. If you wish to contribute to future webinars series please contact the coordinators of this Working Party (Drs. Jeremy Allison, Sigrid Netherer and Andres Gonzalez).

All the talks are available for you to watch on Youtube.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE SEMINAR START TIME IS 16:00 UTC

January 21 - Plant Defense and Biotic and Abiotic Stressors

Nadir Erbilgin, University of Alberta

16:00 - 16:15 Introduction by seminar leader

16:15 - 16:30 "Identifying anatomical and chemical defense fingerprints in Alberta lodgepole pine against mountain pine beetle" by Jennifer Klutsch, University of Alberta

16:30 - 16:45 "Presumed resistant: using current constitutive chemistry to predict historic resistance to insect outbreak" by Ken Keefover-Ring, University of Wisconsin-Madison

16:45 - 17:00 "Stress promotes access to alternate hosts for emerald ash borer" by Don Cipollini, Wright State University

17:00 - 17:30 Open discussion

February 04 - Visual Ecology of Forest Beetles

Johannes Spaethe, University of Wurzburg

16:00 - 16:15 Introduction by seminar leader

16:15 - 16:30 "Color and vision in Buprestidae: Blind to blue but with genetic work-arounds" by Nathan Lord, Louisiana State University

16:30 - 16:45 "Visual Responses of Male Agrilus spp. to Female Decoys Emitting Different Structural "Colors" and Light Strands" by Tom Baker, Pennsylvania State University

16:45 - 17:00 "Exploitation of the Visual Ecology of Woodboring Beetles for Survey and Detection" by Davide Rassati, University of Padova

17:00 - 17:30 Open discussion

February 18 – Finding a point source of odor in a turbulent world:  an overview of mechanisms and constraints

Ring Carde, University of California-Riverside

16:00 - 16:15 Introduction by seminar leader

16:15 - 16:30 "Gaseous Plumes in Forest Canopies: Concepts of Structure and Scale" by Harold Thistle, USDA Forest Service

16:30 - 16:45 "Using pheromone traps for surveillance of invasive moths: effects of ranging flight, distance of attraction, and efficiency of trap capture on detection" by Ring Carde, University of California-Riverside

16:45 - 17:00 "Beyond origami: Understanding mechanisms of differential trap performance to improve trap designs for forest Coleoptera" by Jeremy Allison, Natural resources Canada

17:00 - 17:30 Open discussion

March 04 - Climate Change Effects on Bark Beetle Range Expansion, Community Associates and Outbreak Dynamics

Barbara Bentz, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station

16:00 - 16:15 Introduction by seminar leader

16:15 - 16:30 "Endemic niche requirements limit persistence potential of an eruptive herbivore in novel habitats: the fate of invasive mountain pine beetle in the western boreal forest." by Allan Carroll, University of British Columbia

16:30 - 16:45 "Comparing communities of the “not-so-Southern pine beetle” (Dendroctonus frontalis) between its historical and advancing northern range" by Jeff Garnas, University of New Hampshire

16:45 - 17:00 "Effects of climate on ectosymbiotic community dynamics associated with bark and ambrosia beetles" by Richard Hofstetter, Northern Arizona University

17:00 - 17:30 Open discussion

March 18 - Behavioural and Invasion Ecology of Hylurgus ligniperda

Ecki Brockerhoff, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL

16:00 - 16:15 Introduction by seminar leader

16:15 - 16:30 "Dispersal of H. ligniperda: Evidence from release-recapture experiments" by Nicolas Meurisse, Scion

16:30 - 16:45 "Allee effects in invasions of H. ligniperda" by Kevin Chase, Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory

16:45 - 17:00 "Population genetic evidence of invasion routes of H. ligniperda" by Lea Bischofberger, ETH Zurich.

17:00 - 17:30 Open discussion

April 01 -Chemical Ecology of Ips typographus – Norway spruce Interactions

Sigrid Netherer, University of Vienna

16:00 - 16:10 Introduction by seminar leader

16:10 - 16:35 "Norway spruce vulnerability for bark beetle attack under abiotic stress conditions" by Anna Jirosová, Czech University of Life Sciences

16:35 - 17:00 "Does bark beetle attack history change the induction of terpene and phenolic defenses in mature Norway spruce?" by Raimund Nagel, University of Leipzig

17:00 - 17:30 Open discussion

Please join us at the final Monday Morning Meeting for 2020. The Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria, Prof. Tuwana Kupe will be our special guest speaker. 

Please join us for an online seminar by Prof. Eva H. Stukenbrock, Max Planck Fellow and Professor at Kiel University, Germany, on Thursday 26 November at 16h00 (GMT+2). The title of her presentation is "Interspecific hybridization in fungal grass pathogens shape genome-wide variation."

Please click here for more information or to register for this free seminar.

Mabodiba Maake: The diversity of nodulating Bradyrhizobium strains  from Genisteae along the Great Escarpment.

Leandri Klynsmith: Transcriptome profiling of chemosensory genes in Sirex noctilio (Hymenoptera: Siricidae).

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr FeiFei Liu on 23 November at 08h30. Her presentation will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Shae Swanepoel: The molecular dialogue between Eucalyptus grandis and the myrtle rust pathogen, Austropuccinia psidii.

Caitlin Gevers: Leptocybe invasa (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and the gall community in South Africa: an examination of the distribution, diversity, prevalence and host preference.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI’s Prof. Juan Vorster on 16 November at 08h30. His presentation about the South African Herbicide Resistance Initiative (SARHI), will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for the fifth IUFRO Working Party 7.03.16 – Seminar Series on Behavioral and Chemical Ecology of Forest Insects online seminar at 15h30 (GMT+2) on Thursday 12 November, starting at 15h30 (GMT+2). Attendance of this virtual seminar series is free but you are requested to register by clicking here if you have not yet done so before.

Behavioural and chemical ecology of Sirex noctilio. Prof. Bernard Slippers, FABI, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

15:30 - 15:40 Introduction by seminar leader

15:40 - 16:05 Body size, behaviour and sensory ecology of Sirex noctilio populations in Patagonia. Juan C. Corley. Institute of Forest and Agricultural Research, INTA-CONICET, Argentina

16:05 - 16:30 Reproductive biology of Sirex noctilio: Filling the gaps in chemical, visual and behavioural ecology. Quentin Guignard and Josephine Quefflelec – FABI, South Africa

16:30 - 17:00 Open discussion

Louisa Terblanche: The evolution of Endopolygalacturonases in Armillaria species.

Sasha-Lee Gush: Disentangling shifts in the rhizosphere microbiome of potatoes infected with Rhizoctonia solani in two contrasting regions in South Africa.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Michelle Schröder on 9 November at 08h30. Her presentation, entitled "Biological control of Gonipterus sp. n. 2." will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Kira Lynn: Ceratocystidaceae on the move: Literature review

Kevin Scheepers: Effect of elevated CO₂ concentrations on maize susceptibility to grey leaf spot (GLS) disease.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Robert Mangani on 2 November at 08h30. His presentation, entitled "Assessing the effects of planting dates and environmental change on maize (Zea mays L.) production in South Africa" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for the fifth IUFRO Working Party 7.03.16 – Seminar Series on Behavioral and Chemical Ecology of Forest Insects online seminar at 15h30 on Thursday 29 October starting at 15h30 (GMT+2). Attendance of this virtual seminar series is free but you are requested to register by clicking here if you have not yet done so before.

Chemically mediated plant-herbivore-microbe interactions in forests. Almuth Hammerbacher, University of Pretoria, South Africa

15:30 - 15:40 Introduction by seminar leader

15:40 - 16:05 Host tree terpenes mediate interactions between the European spruce bark beetle, Ips typographus and its fungal symbionts. Dineshkumar Kandasamy, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany

16:05 - 16:30 Tripartite interactions in poplar trees: herbivores feed on plant-pathogenic fungi for their own benefit. Franziska Eberl, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany

16:30 – 17:00 Open discussion

Please join us for an online seminar by Dr Robert Waterhouse, Assistant Professor and SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics Group Leader at the Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday 29 October at 14h00 (GMT+2). The title of his presentation is "Evolutionary genomics of arthropods impacting plant health."

Please click here for more information or to register for this free seminar.

Nganea Nangammbi: Functional characterisation of Xylan-associated genes in Arabidopsis and application of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in hybrid poplar.

Melissa Joubert: Avocado sunblotch viroid: An industry collaboration.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Gabrielle Carstensen on 26 October at 08h30. Her presentation, entitled "Improving the current screening protocol used in a nursery in Brazil to detect Ralstonia species from environmental samples" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Ingrid Marais: External RNA interference against the fungus Cercospora zeina.

Demissew Teshome: The threat of the combined effect of biotic and abiotic stress factors in forestry under a changing climate.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Arista Fourie on 19 October at 08h30. Her presentation, entitled "Investigations of the gut content of the two spotted stink bug" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for the third IUFRO Working Party 7.03.16 – Seminar Series on Behavioral and Chemical Ecology of Forest Insects online seminar at 15h30 on Thursday 15 October starting at 15h30 (GMT+2). Attendance of this virtual seminar series is free but you are requested to register by clicking here if you have not yet done so before.

Predator-prey and host-parasitoid interactions

Manuela Branco, University of Lisbon, Forest Research Center, Portugal

15:30 - 13:40 Introduction by seminar leader

15:40 - 16:05 Specializing on the few or embracing the many - contrasting issues for bark beetle predators. Jean-Claude Grégoire, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

16:05 - 16:30 Infochemical detour: parasitoids tracking host by proxy. Sofia Branco, University of Lisbon, Forest Research Center, Portugal

16:30 – 17:00 Open discussion

Daniella Krämer: Hybridization within species of Ceratocystis.

Modjadji Makwela: Mycorrhizal diversity associated with endemic and endangered South African orchids of the genus, Habenaria.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Hiroyuki Suzuki on 12 October at 08h30. His presentation, entitled "Genetic diversity and population structure of Chrysoporthe deuterocubensis in South East Asia" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Cheyenne Theron: Determining the causal agents of emerging pine needle diseases in Colombia.

Juanita Engelbrecht: Population analysis of Phytophthora cinnamomi in South Africa reveal three lineages and movement between natural vegetation and avocado plantations.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI’s Dr Nicky Creux on 5 October at 08h30. Her presentation entitled "Plant and flower microclimates co-ordinate plant development and plant-pollinator/pathogen interactions" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for an online seminar by Prof. Katherine Denby from the University of York on Thursday 1 October at 16h00 (GMT+2). The title of her presentation is "A systems approach to disease resistance against necrotrophic fungal pathogens". This is the fifth presentation in the FABI International Seminar Series. Attendance is free but please register by clicking here, if you have not done so before. 

Please join us for the second IUFRO Working Party 7.03.16 – Seminar Series on Behavioral and Chemical Ecology of Forest Insects online seminar at 15h30 on Thursday 1 October starting at 15h30 (GMT+2). Attendance of this virtual seminar series is free but you are requested to register by clicking here if you have not yet done so before.

Ecology of bark and ambrosia beetle fungus symbioses

Peter H.W. Biedermann, University of Freiburg, Germany

15:30 - 13:50 Evolutionary ecology of insect-fungus mutualisms. Peter H.W. Biedermann

15:50 - 16:10 The role of ethanol for the fungal symbionts of bark and ambrosia beetles. Maximilian Lehenberger, University of Freiburg, Germany

16:10 - 16:30 Ips typographus and its fungal symbionts on native and non-native hosts. Sifat Munim Tanin, University of Freiburg, Germany

16:30 - 17:00 Open discussion

Robert Jansen van Vuuren: The role of the kauralexin biosynthetic pathway in maize defences against the fall armyworm.

Christopher Liakos: Bacterial community analysis of healthy and diseased onion bulbs after storage in the Columbia Basin of Washington State, USA.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Nicholas Kagimu on 28 September at 08h30. His presentation, entitled 'Nematodes, the good, the bad and the ugly: Nematodes in nature are a solution to the World's problems' will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI Prof. Dave Berger on 21 September at 08h30. His presentation, entitled "The a-MAIZE-ing race: Molecular Plant-Pathogen Interactions research programme" will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Claire Randolph: Population genetics of the primary fungal symbiont of the polyphagous shothole borer in South Africa.

Raven Wienk: Avocado population study and the quantification of Fusarium euwallaceae; a cultivar threat.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral research Fellow Dr Neriman Yilmaz on 14 September at 08h30. Her presentation is entitled "Addressing the taxomic issues in Fusarium fujikori species complex" and will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Elisa Pal: Hey bug, you stink!

Verushka Ibanez: An exploratory bioinformatic analysis of the microbial community associated with healthy and diseased storage onion bulbs.

Contact:

Jeremy Allison, jeremy.allison@canada.ca

Almuth Hammerbacher, almuth.hammerbacher@fabi.up.ac.za

Bernard Slippers, bernard.slippers@fabi.up.ac.za

Please join us for the online launch of two new Satellite Labs - Artificial Intelligence in Farming and Remote Sensing of Plant Health - in FABI on 7 September at 15h30.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Janneke Aylward on 7 September at 08h30.

Her presentation, entitled "A story about Teratosphaeria pathogens told by comparative genomics," will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Janneke Aylward on 7 September at 08h30. Her presentation will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Vinolia Danki: Using GWAS approach to identify genomic regions associated with laccase production in Ceratocystis albifundus.

Sthembiso Mngadi: Characterisation of a novel accessory chromosome within the Fusarium fujikuroi species complex.

Please join us for a presentation on the research work being done in the social insects group by senior lecturer in the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of Pretoria, Dr Yusuf Abdullahi Ahmed on 31 August at 08h30. His presentation will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Please join us for an online seminar by Dr Marie-Agnès Jacques on Thursday 27 August at 16h00 (GMT+2).

Title: Addressing the threat posed by Xylella fastidiosato the agriculture and the environment.

Please register your attendance by clicking here if you have not already registered before.

The FABI International Seminar Series is a new online seminar series providing an opportunity for our research community to discuss a wide range of topics related to plant health. Our monthly virtual seminars are open to all registered participants ensuring a wide audience.

Medha Sood: Carbon supply for normal xyloplast functioning during secondary cell wall formation in VND7-inducible Arabidopsis.

Lizzy Ramela: Taxonomy and diversity of rhizobial species associated with non-native legumes in South Africa.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Arista Fourie. Her presentation will follow the end of the Monday Morning Meeting. 

Title to be advised.

Please join us for the launch of the Grain Research Programme at FABI at the University of Pretoria, in partnership with various stakeholders in Industry, Government and other Universities on 21 August at 14h00.

Where: Zoom online meeting (Register by clicking here)

When: 21 August, 14h00-16h00 (GMT+2)

Program

1.     Opening & welcome

2.     Partnerships between Industry-Government-Universities in developing the GRP

3.     CPHB & FABI base for developing the GRP

4.     Innovation Africa @UP in support of the GRP

5.     A multi-university partnership

6.     Industry & Government perspectives on development of the GRP

7.     Disease diagnostic services

8.     An overview of current research projects

9.     Closing 

Please join us for the launch of the Grain Research Programme at FABI at the University of Pretoria, in partnership with various stakeholders in Industry, Government and other Universities.

Where: Zoom online meeting

When: 21 August 2020 14h00-16h00 (GMT+2)

Program

1.     Opening & welcome

2.     Partnerships between Industry-Government-Universities in developing the GRP

3.     CPHB & FABI base for developing the GRP

4.     Innovation Africa @UP in support of the GRP

5.     A multi-University partnership

6.     Industry & Government perspectives on development of the GRP

7.     Disease diagnostic services

8.     An overview of current research projects

9.     Closing 

Please use the registration form on the left panel of this page to register for this event. We look forward to having your company.

Bernard Slippers and the FABI/Innovation Africa team. 

Jane Chepsergon: The strategic success of Phytophthora spp.

Charmaine Malebe: title pending

Please join us for a presentation on the recently concluded Mycological Society of America online symposium in which several FABIans participated. The presentation will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Nam Pham: Multigene phylogeny and taxonomy of leaf-inhabiting Diaporthales fungi from Eucalyptus plantations in the North Sumatra region.

Trystan Nadasen: Effectoromics of the fungal pathogen Cercospora zeina in maize.

Keamogetswe Maswanganyi: Behavioural responses of the polyphagous shothole borer to volatiles produced by symbiotic fungi.

Brenda Salasini: Identification and functional analyses of candidate core RXLR effectors in Phytophthora parasitica.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Quentin Santana. The presentation will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Title: Development of the Forestry and Agriculture Information Hub.

Please join us for a presentation by Dr Celine Caseys on Thursday 30 July at 16h00 (GMT+2)

Title: Plant versus Botrytis: a story of quantitative plant-pathogen interactions.

This presentation is part of the FABI International Seminar Series.

Ginna Granados: Disease progression and population change over time of Dothistroma septosporum on sentinel pines in Colombia.

Nomakula Zim: Understanding the pathogenicity of Xanthomonas vasicola.

Luki-Marie Scheepers: Pheromone explorations of Gonipterus sp. 2 and Nudaurelia clarki: A current overview.

Kristiann Labuschagne: Characterization of Bowman-Birk Inhibitors (BBIs) in heat, drought and salt stress tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana.

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Victoria Maloney. The presentation will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Title to be advised.

Please join us for JieQiong Li's Prestige Seminar at 10h00 (GMT+2) on Friday 17 July via Zoom.

Title: Taxonomy, mating type distribution and population biology of Calonectria species.

Felipe Balocchi: Linking new & old Coryneliaceae from Chilean Araucaria araucana.

Nomaswazi Maseko: In silico characterization of core promoters from the Ceratocystidaceae family.

Please join us for a presentation by University of Pretoria Vice-Principal and Principal Prof. Tawana Kupe who will speak on fake news in the COVID-19 period. His presentation will follow the Monday Morning Meeting on 13 July.

Anneri Lotter: Genome sequencing, assembly and phasing of a Eucalyptus urophylla x E. grandis F1 hybrid.

Idea Makowe: Reproduction development of Gonipterus species 2 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). 

Please join us for a presentation by FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Nanette Christie. This presentation will follow the Monday Morning Meeting.

Title to be advised.

Nicole van Vuuren: Diversity of fungi associated with Stipagrostis species of the Namib desert "fairy circles".

Dee Twiddy: Characterization of macadamia nut diseases in South Africa.

FABI founding Director Prof. Mike Wingfield will present a talk reflecting on his five-year term of office as IUFRO President. The presentation will start after the Monday Morning Meeting on 29 June.

Please join us for an online Special Seminar by Dr Matthew Kasson on Thursday 25 June at 16h00 (GMT+2). This is a 

Title: Deciphering fungus-arthropod interactions: from ambrosia fungi to cicada-killing “Zygomycetes".

For more information on this FABI International Seminar Series presentation, click here.

Jenna-Lee Price: Fungal diversity associated with stored Zea mays from emerging farms in the Eastern Cape.

Casey Gill: Metabarcoding of the mycangial fungal communities associated with ambrosia beetles trapped in South African avocado orchards.

Byron Sonnekus: Diversity of stink bugs and associated egg parasitoids in Macadamia orchards in South Africa.

Alicia Fick: Putative avocado R gene expression in Phytophthora root rot resistant and susceptible avocado rootstocks.

Claudette Dewing: A novel approach to discover fungal biodiversity.

Jane Ramaswe: Chemotropic growth of Fusarium circinatum to Pinus patula roots.

Aaron Maringa: Investigating Phytophthora cinnamomi cyst adhesion during avocado infection.

Cameron Cullinan: The response of Soybean Cysteine Protease CP3 to drought.

Please join us for Stephanie van Wyk's Prestige Seminar on Tuesday 2 June at 14h00.

Title: Repeat-induced point mutations in the Fusarium fujikuroi species complex.

This will be FABI's first ever online Prestige Seminar hosted on the Zoom platform. Details to join the presentation will be distributed via FABITEAM.

Please join us for an online seminar by Dr Joey Tanney on Thursday 28 May at 16h00.

Title: Endophyte insights: modulating tree microbiomes and the new paradigm of forest tree health.

Please register your attendance by clicking here.

The FABI International Seminar Series is a new online seminar series providing an opportunity for our research community to discuss a wide range of topics related to plant health. Our monthly virtual seminars are open to all registered participants ensuring a wide audience.

Angel Maduke: Botryosphaeriaceae in the Macadamia canopy in South Africa.

Christoff Joubert: Tri-trophic interactions of Gonipterus sp. n. 2.

In light of the extraordinary circumstances experienced around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most, if not all, scientific meetings have been cancelled for the foreseeable future. One of the many benefits of these meetings is science engagement.

The FABI International Seminar Series provides an opportunity for our research community to continue discussions on various topics. Our guest speakers will cover a wide range of topics related to plant health. Our monthly virtual seminars are open to all registered participants ensuring a wide audience.

Please fill in the registration form on the left menu of this page should you be interested in attending these events. You will be contact via email provided with relevant information on the seminar for each month. If you wish to contribute to this initiative by offering to present your research, please contact Dr Neriman Yilmaz or Dr Markus Wilken.

Ipeleng Randome: Implementation of hairy root transformation for reverse genetics analysis in Eucalyptus.

Lebone Sebapu: Genomic inference of species boundaries in Ceratocystis.

Thabang Moropa: Investigating the genetic diversity and population structure of Gonipterus in South Africa.

Mary Ranketse: Genetic characterization and population dynamics of macadamia cultivars in South African using multiplexed microsatellite markers.

The annual meeting of the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) and DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Plant Health Biotechnology (CPHB) has become one of the most important meetings relating to forest tree health in South Africa and globally. The 2020 TPCP/CPHB meeting will take place on 12 May. This event is open to staff of member companies of the TPCP and other stakeholders in the TPCP and CPHB. The CPHB Advisory Board meeting is scheduled for 11 May.

As has been the case in the past, the 31^st annual meeting of the TPCP will focus on key issues relating to forest tree health in South Africa. Importantly, the meeting will again seek to provide feedback to forest industry and other stakeholders on programmes focused on dealing with threatening pest and disease problems following an integrated pest management approach. This year, we will again have the opportunity to learn from colleagues in other parts of the world and to 'benchmark' TPCP research internationally.

Juanita Avontuur: The photosynthetic trait in the genus Bradyrhizobium.

Privilege Makunde: Current and potential threat of psyllids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) on eucalypts.

Firehiwot Eshetu: Unraveling the population genetic diversity, structure and introduction history of an invasive woodwasp Sirex noctilio in Australia and New Zealand.

Annie Chan: Caballeronia glathei bl8n3 nodulates legumes through a plasmid obtained from cape floral region rhizobia.

Lomile Khoete: Investigating the genetic diversity and population structure of Gonipterus in South Africa.

Pertunia Moropa: Role of developmental plasticity in flight performance of an invasive insect.

Michael Austin: The circadian clock and diurnal rhythms of Eucalyptus carbon sink tissue, xylem.

Ashleigh Smith: Characterisation of Lepidoptera associated with macadamia in South Africa.

Matthew Jackson: The Population Genetics of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in South Africa.

Tanya Welgemoed: Signatures of selection in the genome of African populations of the maize pathogen Cercospora zeina.

Sung Hyu Luke Kim: CRISPR engineering of Glucuronoxylan Methyltransferase (GXM) genes in hybrid Poplar.  

Darryl Herron: Fusarium circinatum from non-pine hosts enhances the global threat of pine pitch canker.

Chairperson: Jane Chepsergon

Sung Hyu Luke Kim: CRISPR engineering of Glucuronoxylan Methyltransferase (GXM) genes in hybrid Poplar.  

Darryl Herron: Fusarium circinatum from non-pine hosts enhances the global threat of pine pitch canker.

Question Panel: Mathew Harris, Mandla Sibiya

Chairperson: Harmen Barten

Mathew Harris: Host identity drives richness, composition and successional trends for foliar fungal endophyte communities within a forest successional gradient.

Question Panel: Lorraine Mhoswa, Stephan Henning, Nokwanda Dlamini, Agil Katumanyane

Please join us for a special seminar by Prof. Baldwyn Torto in the FABI Auditorium at 16h00 on 16 March.

Title: The little-known nurses of plant health.

Refreshments will be served after the seminar.

Chairperson: Quentin Guignard

Ofentse Mathibela: Characterization of soybean over-expressing Oryzacystatin I, OC-I, in root nodules under drought conditions.

Stephan Henning: Eucalyptus Genome Diversity Atlas: Assessing the genomic diversity of two economically important eucalypts.

Nokwanda Dlamini: Phenotypic distribution of nodules in soybean (Glycine max L.) cultivars inoculated with different strains of rhizobia.

Agil Katumanyane: Identifying resistance mechanisms of South African white grubs to entomopathogenic nematodes.

Question Panel: Granny Hlongwane, Shawn Fell

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Chairperson: Darryl Herron

Shawn Fell: The impact of PSHB on Pecan trees in South Africa.

Granny Hlongwane: Characterisation of Ceratocystis species infecting Acacia spp. and Eucalyptus spp. in Indonesia.

Question Panel: Taponeswa Tasiya, Lungile Mabuza

Please join us for at the Department of Plant and Soil Science's International Year of Plant Health 2020 Seminar Series at 10h00 in the FABI Auditorium on Monday 2 March. 

10h00: Prof. Shirley Micallef (University of Maryland): Pre-harvest food safety from farm to fruit: Salmonella dynamics and interactions with crops 

10h30: Prof. Gabi Berg (Graz University of Technology): Fruit microbiomes for human gut health and well-being: Fact or Fiction? 

11h00: Werner Rossouw (University of Pretoria): The microbiome of Agaricus bisporus (Lange) Imbach and the prevalence of foodborne pathogens and mycoparasitic fungal pathogens in white button mushroom production systems.

A light lunch will be served afterwards.

Chairperson: Firehiwot Eshetu

Taponeswa Tasiya: The diversity and origin of rhizobia isolated from invasive Acacia spp.

Lungile Mabuza: Functional characterization of Arabodopsis basic leucine zipper 7.

Quentin Guignard: The male pheromone in Sirex noctilio: a real puzzle!

Question Panel: Josephine Queffelec, Shannon Wilson

Chairperson: Felipe Balocchi

Shannon Wilson: Systemic responses induced by Chrysoporthe austroafricana in Eucalyptus grandis.

Josephine Queffelec: Mechanisms that influence sex ratio variation in the invasive hymenopteran Sirex noctilio in South Africa.

Question Panel: Mandy Messal, Ricu Claasens, Silindile Maphosa, Bertus van Heerden

Chairperson: Josephine Queffelec

Mandy Messal: Fungal community composition associated with leaves of a Eucalyptus grandis half-sib population.

Ricu Claasens: Investigating the biogeography of Bradyrhizobium.

Silindile Maphosa: Identification and functional characterization of Soft Rot Pectobacterium spp. anti-host T6SS effector proteins.

Bertus van Heerden: Single particle tracking for single-molecule spectroscopy in live cells.

Question Panel: Rachel Mkandawire, Valencia Mogoshoa, Hannes Strydom, Nicole Soal

Please join us for Robert Backer's Prestige Seminar in the FABI Auditorium on Thursday 6 February at 12h00.

Title: Molecular and bioinformatic analysis of the Persea americana (Mill.) NPR1-dependent defence signalling pathway in response to Phytophthora cinnamomi infection.

Chairperson: Agil Katumanyane

Chairperson: Agil Katumanyane

Venue: FABI, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Date: 4th - 5th February 2020

About:

In 2020, FABI will host a FameLab heat with a focus on plant health. 

2020 has been declared the International Year of Plant Health by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness on how protecting plant health will end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment and develop economic development. FameLab is one of the biggest science communication competitions in the world and an incredibly exciting platform in which we can showcase South African plant health research.

By taking part in FameLab, you will inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers, gain valuable communication skills, and meet amazing like-minded people. Importantly, you will also become part of an increasingly exciting network of scientists and engineers able to clearly and imaginatively explain their science to the general public.

We are encouraging anyone who works or does research in the plant health space to enter our heat. This winner of this heat will go on to compete in the national final for a chance to represent South Africa in the international competition in the UK. 

About FameLab link: https://www.britishcouncil.org.za/famelab

Enter: https://www.britishcouncil.org.za/famelab/enter-competition

Contact: Darryl Herron, darryl.herron@fabi.up.ac.za

Please join us for Edgar Mangwende's Prestige Seminar at 09h00 on 4 February in the Plant Sciences Complex Auditorium.

Title: Identification and control of Colletotrichum species associated with Eucalyptus seeds. 

Chairperson: Ginna Granados

Khumbuzile Bophela: Investigating the potential role of ring nematodes (Mesocriconema xenoplax) in predisposing plum trees to bacterial canker infection - an update.

Valencia Mogashoa: Development of a Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) model for screening susceptible and resistant Eucalyptus clones against Chrysoporthe austroafricana.

Hannes Strydom: Modelling the population dynamics of Sirex noctilio.

Nicole Soal: Catechol dioxygenases of the Ceratocystidaceae - helping the saprophytes or the pathogens?

Question Panel: Benedicta Swalarsk-Parry, Quentin Guignard, Knowledge Mushonga, Ariska van der Nest

Please join us for Jan Nagel's Prestige Seminar on Wednesday 29 January at 16h00 in the FABI Auditorium.

Title: Genomic insights into the biology and evolution of Botryosphaeriaceae.

Refreshments will be served afterwards.

Please join us for Joey Hulbert's Prestige Seminar at 16h00 on Tuesday 28 January in the FABI Auditorium.

Title: A quest for plant destroyers in the Cape Floristic Region: a story of the growth of an indigenous-plant pathologist

Refreshments will be served afterwards.

Chairperson: Juanita Avontuur

Quentin Guignard: The male pheromone in Sirex noctilio: a real puzzle! 

Note there will be no Question Panel this week.

Chairperson: Brenda Chisanga

Robert Jansen van Vuuren:The role of the kauralexin biosynthetic pathway in maize defences against the fall armyworm.

Ingrid Marais:External RNA interference against the fungusCercospora zeina.

Phinda Magagula:Potential control strategies of white root rot on avocado.

Question Panel: Juanita Engelbrecht, Leandri Bezuidenhoudt

The FABI Social Club invites all FABIans to join them for the monthly FABI Tea in the courtyard.

Chairperson: Melissa Joubert

Juanita Engelbrecht:Sequencing and analysis of thePhytophthora cinnamomigenome.

Raven Wienk:Avocado cultivar population study and the quantification ofFusarium euwallaceae; a cultivar threat.

Leandri Bezuidenhoudt:Functional characterisation ofSirex noctiliochemosensation genes.

Question Panel: Brenda Salasini, Sthembiso Mngadi, Nganea Nangammbi, Caitlin Gevers

Chairperson: Tsakani Miyambo

Brenda Salasini:Identification andfunctional analysis ofcandidate RXLReffectorsinPhytophthoraspecies.

Sthembiso Mngadi: awaiting title

Nganea Nangammbi:CRISPR-Editing of Xylan-associated genes inPopulusalba x P.tremulaand characterisationof their functional roles inArabidopsis thaliana.

Question Panel: Lebone Sebapu, Rosa Knopperson, Nam Pham, Stefan Ferreira

Celebrate the end of another year at the FABI Year-End Function. More details to follow in due course.

Chairperson: Silindile Maphosa

Rosa Knopperson:The role of insect gut microbial communities in overcoming plant chemical defenses by the Eucalyptus Snout Beetle,Gonipterus sp.2.

Nam Pham:Biotic factors associated with Eucalyptus Little Leaf Disease in North Sumatra, Indonesia.

Stefan Ferreira:The role of transketolase and transaldolase in carbon partitioning to lignin.

Modjadji Makwela:Beneficial fungi associated with South African endemic and endangered orchids.

Question Panel: Jane Chepsergon, Caitlin Gevers, Lizzy Ramela

Please join us for a special seminar by two leading authorities on biological control, Prof. Timothy Paine and Dr Maartje Klapwijk, in the FABI Auditorium at 11h00 on 12 November.

Dr Maartje Klapwijk:Trophic interactions in the Anthropocene.

Prof. Tim Paine:Invasive Ambrosia Beetles:Biology and Control.

Refreshments will be served after the seminar.

Chairperson: Ariska van der Nest

Jane Chepsergon:Identification and characterization of conserved RxLR effectors inPhytophthora paraitica.

Melissa Joubert:Discovery ofPhytophthora cinnamomi RxLReffector genes expressed during avocado infection.

Lizzy Ramela:Taxonomyand diversity of rhizobial species associated with non-native legumes in southern Africa.

Nomakula Zim: Title pending

Question Panel: Byron Sonnekus, Luki-Marie Scheepers, Tanya Welgemoed

The FABI Social Club invites all FABIans to join them for the monthly FABI Tea in the courtyard.

Please join us for the Prestige Seminar of Ronel Roberts in the FABI Auditorium at 15h00 on 5 November.

Seminar title: Genetic and biological diversity of "Candidatus Liberibacters" from South Africa.

Refreshments will be served afterwards.

Chairperson: Jane Chepsergon

Byron Sonnekus:Diversity of stink bugs and associated egg parasitoids in Macadamia orchards in SA.

Luki-Marie Scheepers: Pheremone explorations of Gonipterus species.

Tanya Welgemoed:Patterns of pathogenicity gene selection in Africanpopulations of the maize pathogenCercospora zeina.

Albertina Makowe: title pending

Question Panel: Keamogetswe Maswanganyi, Michael du Toit, Charmaine Malebe,Felipe Balocchi

Please join us for a two-hour interactive seminar "Women in Biotech" co-hosted by Biosafety SA and FABI.

Come and join the discussion where we showcase successful women in biotech, discuss challenges that they had to face and overcome and how we can create opportunities for young women in biotech through engagement, education and empowerment.

Programme

Chairperson: Stephanie van Wyk

Keamogetswe Maswanganyi:The effects of plant associated microbes on host selection by a tree-killing ambrosia beetle: Polyphagous shot hole borer.

Michael du Toit:The Polyphagous shot hole borer andFusarium euwallaceaeonPersea americana, in South Africa.

Felipe Balocchi:Advances in the Araucaria canker disease description.

Charmaine Malebe:Isolation, identification and characterization of bacterial leaf blight pathogen onAcacia crassicarpa.

Question Panel: Nomaswazi Maseko, Pozisa Majaja

Chairperson: Caitlin Gevers

Julia Candotti:Analysis of hybrid combining ability in aEucalyptusmulti-parent mapping population.

Nomaswazi Maseko:In silico characterization of core promoters from the ceratocystidaceae family.

Pozisa Majaja:Morphological and molecular identification ofFusariumspecies isolated fromZea maysandEragrostis tefin the Free State.

Ginna Granados:Evidence for sexual recombination ofD.septosporumpopulations in Colombia.

Question Panel: Claudette Dewing, Frances Lane, Silindile Maphosa, Jane Ramaswe

Chairperson: Elisa Pal

Claudette Dewing: Characterisation of host-specific genes unique to Fusarium species from the FFSC

Frances Lane: The transferability of an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation system in the Ceratocystidaceae

Ntombikayise Nkomo: The role of SlyA transcriptional regulator in the virulence of Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. brasiliense PBR1692

Jane Ramaswe: Plant-microbe interactions mediated by Pinus patula root exudates under laboratory conditions

Question Panel: Marja O'Neill, Leandri Bezuidenhoudt, Fezile Mthunzi, Matthew Jackson

Chairperson: Wilma Nel

Marja O'Neill:

Leandri Bezuidenhoudt:

Fezile Mtunzi:

Matthew Jackson:

Question Panel: Modjadji Makwela, Nomakula Zim, Agil Katayumane, Shawn fell

The FABI Social Club invites all FABIans to join them for the monthly FABI Tea in the courtyard.

Chairperson: Demissew Teshome

Agil Katayumane:Screening South Africa’s local entomopathogenic nematodes for their pathogenicity against white grubs.

Shawn Fell:The impact of PSHB on pecan trees in South Africa.

Shaun Stice:Pantoeaspp. defeat onion chemical defences with a plasmid-borne allicin tolerance cluster.

Question Panel: Lungile Mabuza, Johannes Joubert, Hannes Strydom

FABI postdoctoral Fellow Dr Vuyiswa Bushula-Njah will present a seminar on her project entitled "Vascular wilt of coffee caused byFusarium xylarioides."

Chairperson: Angel Maduke

Lungile Mabuza:Functional characterization of Arabidopsis basic leucine zipper 7.

Johannes Joubert:Constitutive chemical defence of Eucalyptus against herbivory by Gonipterus sp. 2.

Hannes Strydom:Modelling the population dynamics of the forest pestSirex noctilio.

Question Panel: Dorris Tshwane, Privilege Makunde, Taponeswa Tasiya

Chairperson: Melissa Joubert

Dorris Tshwane:Characterization of microbial quorum quenching genes from metagenomic sequence data isolated from the southern ocean.

Privilege Makunde: Biology and ecology of the shell lerp psyllid,Spondyliaspiscf.plicatuloides(Hemiptera: Psylloidea) in South Africa.

Taponeswa Tasiya:Diversity and origin of rhizobia isolated fromAcacia sp.andDichrostachys cinereaand nodulation efficiency of the isolated rhizobia compared to commercial inoculants.

Question Panel: Nicole Soal, Ricu Claassens, Carol-Ann Segal

Please join us for a special seminar by a world leader in the field of Mycology, Prof. John Taylor at 16h00 on Monday 9 September at 16h00 in the FABI Auditorium.

Presentation title: Characterizing fungal species and their ecology with cultivated Sorghum.

Refreshments will be served after the seminar.

Chairperson: Tsakani Miyambo

Nicole Soal:Gene expression response of catechol dioxygenases inCeratocystis fimbriataduring infection of sweet potatoes.

Ricu Claassens: Plant growth promoting bacteria associated withEucalyptus.

Carol-Ann Segal:Cloning the Cercospora zeina Ecp2 effector gene for Agrobacterium-mediated transient transformation.

Question Panel: Wilma Nel, Mathew Harris, Lomile Khoete

The FABI Social Club invites all FABIans to join them for the monthly FABI Tea in the courtyard.

Chairperson:Brenda Chisanga

Wilma Nel:Investigating the genomic patterns of beetle vectored Sordariomycete fungi.

Mathew Harris:

Lomile Khoete:Investigating the population diversity of Gonipterus and its biological control agent in SouthAfrica.

Question Panel: Firehiwot Eshetu, Kira Lynn, Seamus Morgan, Sung Hyu Luke Kim

Chairperson: Nam Pham

Firehiwot Eshetu:Genetic diversity ofAmylostereum areolatumfrom Australia and New Zealand, the symbiotic fungus of an invasive woodwaspSirex noctilio.

Kira Lynn:Tiny beetles being a big pest inAcacia crassicarpaplantations in Indonesia.

Seamus Morgan:Mating inQuambalariaand other Exobasidiomycetes.

Sung Hyu Luke Kim:Exploring glucuronoxylan biosynthesis genes and their potential for biorefinery applications of woody biomass.

Question Panel: Ashleigh Smith, Ipeleng Randome, Lebone Sebapu

Chairperson: Silindile Maphosa

Ashleigh Smith:Characterization ofLepidopteraassociated with Macadamia in South Africa.

Ipeleng Randome:Identification and prioritization of woody-plant preferential Eucalyptus transcription factors putatively involved in wood formation.

Lebone Sebapu:Genomic inference of species boundaries in Ceratocystis.

Question Panel: Granny Hlongwane, Mary Ranketse

Chairperson: Jane Chepsergon

Granny Hlongwane:Investigating the Ceratocystis disease outbreak in Eucalyptus clones in KwaZulu-Natal.

Mary Ranketse:Genomic characterization and resources for macadamia nut cultivars for advanced genetic breeding.

Question Panel: Jesse Hartley, Eugene Kabwe, Mateka Modiba

The FABI Social Club invites all FABIans to join them for the monthly FABI Tea in the courtyard.