Latest Plant pathology Stories

Using pathogen genomics, Professor Paul Birch from the Division of Plant Sciences, University of Dundee (at Scottish Crop Research Institute - SCRI), alongside researchers from Warwick HRI and the University of Aberdeen, is looking at how the most significant potato pathogen, Phytopthora infestans causes disease and identifying essential pathogen virulence genes that may be durable targets for host resistance proteins.Costs associated with crop losses and chemical control of blight exceed...

Major crop loss may result from an explosive fungus that destroys tomato plants and is rampant in the Northeast, federal agriculture officials said Friday. Late blight, a highly contagious fungus, can jump from tomato to potato plants and caused the Irish potato famine in the 19th century. Its spores are common in soil and small outbreaks are familiar to farmers, but the cool, wet weather in June added to the aggression of the pathogen, Martin A. Draper, a senior plant pathologist at the...

The disease blamed for the Irish potato famine in the 1840s is infecting tomato and potato plants in the eastern United States, agricultural officials said. A press release from Cornell University, New York state's land grant college, warned home gardeners and commercial farmers that late blight is killing the tomato and potato plants. Meg McGrath, associate professor of plant pathology and plant-microbe biology said late blight has never occurred this early and this widespread in the U.S....

As a major food source for much of the world, rice is one of the most important plants on earth.Keeping it safe from disease has become, in part, the task of a group of three researchers from Iowa State University and one from Kansas State University.The researchers are looking at two bacterial diseases of rice. The most costly is bacterial blight of rice, which is caused by a bacterium called Xanthomonas oryzae pathovar oryzae, and can diminish yield by up to 50 percent."This is the...

Both plant and human diseases that can travel with the wind have the potential to spread far more rapidly than has been understood, according to a new study, in findings that pose serious concerns not only for some human diseases but also a new fungus that threatens global wheat production.The research, done by scientists at Oregon State University and other institutions, concluded that invading diseases do not always progress in an orderly, constant rate. These historical studies of both...

Canadian scientists say they've created a new class of green fungicides to provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to conventional fungicides. The University of Saskatchewan researchers led by Professor Soledade Pedras say their new fungicides -- called paldoxins -- can duplicate the work of conventional pesticides in helping protect corn, wheat and other crops that are used for food and biofuel production. But the scientists said their new fungicides also can help fight the...

Exploiting a little-known punch/counterpunch strategy in the ongoing battle between disease-causing fungi and crop plants, scientists in Canada are reporting development of a new class of "green" fungicides that could provide a safer, more environmentally-friendly alternative to conventional fungicides. They will report on the first pesticides to capitalize on this unique defensive strategy today at the 237th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.Developed with...

Relationship between chile peppers' heat level and plant disease resistance studiedPhytophthora blight, caused by Phytophthora capsici, is a major plant disease that affects many crop species worldwide, including chile peppers in New Mexico. Farmers' observations suggested that Phytophthora capsici caused less damage in pepper crops of the hot pepper varieties than low-heat pepper varieties.A study published in the October 2008 issue of HortScience by the research team of Mohammed B. Tahboub...

North Carolina State University scientists and colleagues have completed the genome sequence and genetic map of one of the world's most common and destructive plant parasites "“ Meloidogyne hapla, a microscopic, soil-dwelling worm known more commonly as the northern root-knot nematode.The research could help lead to a new generation of eco-friendly tools to manage the ubiquitous parasitic worm, which, along with other species of root-knot nematode, causes an estimated $50 billion in crop...

By Marina, Maria Maiale, Santiago Javier; Rossi, Franco Ruben; Romero, Matias Fernando; Rivas, Elisa Isabel; Garriz, Andres; Ruiz, Oscar Adolfo; Pieckenstain, Fernando Luis The role of polyamine (PA) metabolism in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) defense against pathogens with contrasting pathogenic strategies was evaluated. Infection by the necrotrophic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum resulted in increased arginine decarboxylase expression and activity in host tissues, as well as putrescine and...