and fungi--a far cry indeed from their past much undeserved'weed'status. This paper is also a brilliant showcase of how useful is the brand new Phytokeys publishing platform for the advancement of taxonomy.
#Fungus deadly to AIDS patients found to grow on treesresearchers have pinpointed the environmental source of fungal infections that have been sickening HIV/AIDS patients in Southern California for decades.
and tree samples from areas around Los angeles hardest hit by infections of the fungus named Cryptococcus gattii (CRIP-to-cock-us GAT-ee-eye).
They decided it would be fun to send her out in search of fungi living in the greater Los angeles area.
and isolated the Cryptococcus fungus and then sent those specimens to Springer at Duke. Springer DNA-sequenced the samples from California
if other organisms such a bacteria and fungi also exchange information in a similar fashion.
which we believe was driven by reduced moisture at the forest edge impairing the activity of saprotrophic fungi--those that live
Wood decay and the recycling of other biological matter like leaf litter is driven by fungi
Saprotrophic fungi control the cycling of carbon and nutrients from wood in forests and their responses to changes in microclimate driven by fragmentation
Senior Research Scientist Dr Alan Little and team have discovered the composition of special growths on the cell walls of barley plants that block the penetration of the fungus into the leaf.
The fungus spore lands on the leaf and sends out a tubelike structure which punches its way through cell walls penetrating the cells and taking the nutrients from the plant.
Effective papillae can block the penetration by the fungus. It has long been thought that callose is the main polysaccharide component of papilla.
#Moose drool inhibits growth of toxic fungussome sticky research out of York University shows a surprisingly effective way to fight against a certain species of toxic grass fungus:
(which hosts a fungus called epichloã festucae that produces the toxin ergovaline) results in slower fungus growth and less toxicity.
and in the case of certain types of grass by harbouring toxic fungus deep within them that can be dangerous
which they then smeared onto clipped samples of red fescue grass carrying the toxic fungus simulating the effect of grazing.
They found that the application of saliva produced rapid results inhibiting fungus growth within 12-36 hours.
We found that the saliva worked very quickly in slowing the growth of the fungus
and the fungus colonies says Bazely. In addition by applying multiple applications of saliva to the grass over the course of two months we found we could lower the concentration of ergovaline between 41 and 70 per cent.
'and slow down the growth of the fungus. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by York University.
and Genomics (CBGP) of Universidad Politã cnica de Madrid (UPM) conducted infection assays of commercial kiwis with Alternaria alternata spores which is a pathogenic fungus involved in chronic asthma
and they found that the infected kiwis had the major allergen of the fungus although symptoms of rot were seen not.
This could trigger the involuntary ingestion of the fungus found in this fruit causing an asthmatic crisis in people allergic to Alternaria.
Alternaria alternata is a fungus that proliferates in fruit and vegetables crops and also when are collected
A protein known as Alt a 1 and related to the virulence is found in the spores this protein is described as the major allergen of this fungus.
When a pathogen infects a plant the defense response is activated producing an increase of certain proteins related to the defense (known as protein 5). Likewise the fungus increases the production of the proteins involved in attacks or virulence.
All this can cause the involuntary ingestion of the fungus when eating the fruit. Researchers conducted tests by infecting commercial kiwifruit with spores of Alternaria alternata
Fourteen days after the infection the kiwifruits showed a regular aspect without apparent development of the fungus
but through tests conducted in lab (microscopy of specific staining fungus and Kiwi proteins) they detected the presence of Alt a 1 in the pulp.
Researchers did observed not development of the fungus in kiwifruit but they indeed detected the presence of its major allergen through specific staining.
Worrying link to fungal drug resistance in UK, warns scientistscrop spraying on British farms could be aiding a life-threatening fungus suffered by tens of thousand of people in the UK each year.
New research by British and Dutch scientists has found that Aspergillus--a common fungus that attacks the lungs
Although the link has been made before in The netherlands it's the first time its been made in the UK between drug resistance in Aspergillus
He believes merging antifungal resistance in human pathogenic fungi is causing a huge threat to patients especially to those with weaken immune systems
However the clear association with triazole fungicide usage is very worrisome as some unlucky people at risk will breathe in untreatable Aspergillus with potentially dire consequences.
Diseases caused by Aspergillus affect millions of people worldwide causing high morbidity and mortality. The only oral antifungal agents (triazoles) for human use are similar in structure to certain fungicides.
and some fungi are multi-resistant. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Manchester University.
Unfortunately bees all over the world are under pressure from pesticides mites viruses bacteria fungi and environmental changes among other things.
University of Illinois scientists cite the earth's changing climate as one reason that more research is needed on the fungus that causes charcoal rot.
Fungi may often be associated with cool damp growing conditions but Macrophomina phaseolina the fungus that causes charcoal rot prefers hot and dry drought conditions.
As the climate continues to change and we see more extremes in the weather including hotter drier summers this fungus will have more favorable conditions to gain a foothold in soybean
and other crops said Osman Radwan a U of I molecular biologist. If we look at diseases of soybean we find that soybean cyst nematode (SCN) is at the top
The fungus causes charcoal rot in about 500 other host plants including corn sorghum sunflower and other important crops.
This fungus also grows in high concentrations of salt which isn't much of a problem to growers in the United states
and resist this fungus at the same time. One intriguing direction Radwan described that shows promise is that there may be interactions between M. phaseolina and other soil pathogens such as soybean cyst nematode (SCN) and sudden death syndrome (SDS.
but the fungus that causes charcoal rot is necrotrophic meaning that it kills the plant tissue then lives on the dead plant cells.
Although no plants have complete immunity from the fungus some soybean lines have been shown to have partial resistance to it.
#Fungus in yogurt outbreak poses threat to consumersthe fungus responsible for an outbreak of contaminated Greek yogurt last year is not harmless after all
However as complaints of severe GI discomfort continued from otherwise healthy customers researchers began to question the fungus
In the study the researchers isolated a strain of the fungus from a yogurt container that was subject to recall.
Unlike other strains of the fungus that particular subspecies is associated commonly with human infections. Whole-genome sequence analysis of the yogurt isolate confirmed it as being closely related to Mcc
and also revealed the possibility that this fungus could produce harmful metabolites that were previously unknown in this species. The researchers then tested the strain on mice where the fungus showed an ability to cause lethal infections
However this incidence indicates that we need to pay more attention to fungi. Fungal pathogens can threaten our health systems as food-borne pathogens says Lee.
Other student groups focused on fungus and bacteria. A team from Brookhaven Academy in Mississippi will determine
Eighth graders at Pennsauken Phifer Middle school in New jersey will examine the growth rate in microgravity of penicillium which future astronauts could grow as an antibiotic to treat infections.
Two teams are interested in rust in space St peter's School students in Kansas city Missouri want to determine how microgravity affects oxidation
Milton L. Olive Middle school in New york evaluates the effectiveness of a commercial spray corrosion inhibitor Rust-Oleum's'Stops Rust'in microgravity.
and fungi pests yet some species have developed resistance against these toxins and may even exploit them to identify the most nutritious plant tissues.
the infection was associated with the fungus Colletotrichum dracaenophilum a pathogen that originated in Asia. The researchers evaluated the effects of hot water treatments on symptomless lucky bamboo planting material and tested fungicides for the control of Colletotrichum in asymptomatic
The authors determined that traditional hot water treatments such as those tested in the study were not promising for controlling the latent fungus
while in the second they were infested with rice blast fungus. Despite this the rice yield was 3. 5 tons (t) per hectare or almost as much as the average national yield of 3. 8 t per hectare.
Cornelison grows the bacteria under certain conditions that enable them to inhibit the growth of fungi responsible for these diseases.
In collaboration with University of California-Davis he found the bacteria prevented the spread of fungi on bat skin without touching the skin.
The skin gives the muscadine natural resistance to disease fungi and insects and it stores many antioxidants the study said.
But researchers in the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life sciences have found an effective way to kill poison ivy using a naturally occurring fungus that grows on the fleshy tissue surrounding the plant's seed potentially giving homeowners and forest managers the ability to rid
The research team discovered the killer fungus in their initial attempts to generate microbe-free poison ivy seedlings to use in their studies.
what he suspected was a fungus causing disease in the plants. The team discovered that the fungus was growing on all the plants that died
and the seeds that didn't germinate. The fungus caused wilt and chlorophyll loss on the seedlings just by placing it at the junction of the main stem and root collar of the plant at three weeks post-inoculation.
At seven weeks post-inoculation all but one of the plants had died. Though herbicides are available to kill poison ivy Jelesko
if this fungus were developed into a commercial application it would not only be more effective than its chemical counterparts
After Kasson successfully isolated the fungus in pure culture from infected plants a DNA analysis revealed that the fungus--Colletotrichum fioriniae--is also widely known as an insect pathogen that kills an invasive bug that infests
Half the subjects in an online survey read the story of the 1850s Irish potato Famine learning the potential impact of fungal Phytophthora infestans on potato and tomato crops today.
Termites, fungi play more important role in decomposition than temperatureclimate change models could have a thing
and fungi according to a new study released this week. For a long time scientists have believed that temperature is the dominant factor in determining the rate of wood decomposition worldwide.
But scientists from Yale the University of Central Florida and SUNY Buffalo State found that fungi
and biology of fungi and termites is a key to understanding how the rate of decomposition will vary from place to place.
because they reflect the activity of fungi and termites. The team suggests that scientists need to embrace the variability found across data collected from many different sites instead of averaging it all together to create better models with more accurate predictions.
whether to the consumption of fungi growing on the wood or to termites consuming the wood.
According to Bradford the use of mean responses can mask the local-scale information such as the abundance of soil fungi and animals
and five other institutions concludes that Phytophthora infestans originated in this valley and co-evolved with potatoes over hundreds
Natural microbe inhibits rice blast fungusa fungus that kills an estimated 30 percent of the world's rice crop may finally have met its match thanks to a research discovery made by scientists at the University of Delaware
and soil sciences in UD's College of Agriculture and Natural resources has identified a naturally occurring microbe living right in the soil around rice plants--Pseudomonas chlororaphis EA105--that inhibits the devastating fungus known as rice blast.
What's more the beneficial soil microbe also induces a system-wide defense response in rice plants to battle the fungus.
In addition to rice a distinct population of the rice blast fungus also now threatens wheat production worldwide.
According to Bais the rice blast fungus (Magnaporthe oryzae) attacks rice plants through spores resembling pressure plugs that penetrate the plant tissue.
Once these spores infiltrate the cell wall the fungus eats the plant alive as Bais says.
Without it the fungus can't invade the plant. In a research study published in the journal Planta this past October Bais
The concept of ETI was developed to describe defense against pathogens that enter into plant cells (e g. wheat rusts
A new view of forest fungithe so-called symbiotic relationship between trees and the fungus that grow on their roots may actually work more like a capitalist market relationship between buyers
that the fungi or mycorrhizae that grow on tree roots work with trees in a symbiotic relationship that is beneficial for both the fungi and the trees providing needed nutrients to both parties.
These fungi including many edible mushrooms are particularly common in boreal forests with scarce nutrients.
In the recent experiments researchers found that rather than alleviating nutrient limitations in soil the root fungi maintain that limitation by transferring less nitrogen to the trees
and Management researcher Oskar Franklin in collaboration with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences used a theoretical model to explain the new experimental findings by simulating the interaction between individual fungus and plant.
The competition among trees makes them export excessive amounts of carbon to the fungi which seize a lot of soil nutrients.
Having multiple symbiotic trading-partners generates competition among both the fungi and the plants where each individual trades carbon for nutrients or vice versa to maximize profits not unlike a capitalistic market economy says Franklin
. Although doing business with fungi is a good deal from each tree's own point of view it traps the whole forest in nutrient limitation he says.
and a fungus that conversely blazed its way into contention by virtue of the bright orange color it displays
Orange Penicillium: A New Fungus among Us Penicillium vanoranjei Location: Tunisia Distinguished by the bright orange color it displays
when produced in colonies this fungus was named as a tribute to the Dutch royal family specifically His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange.
It was reported in a journal published by the National Herbarium of The netherlands. The newcomer was isolated from soil in Tunisia.
Dipterocarps are known to make special relationships with fungi in the soil so they may be able to tap into scarce nutrient resources.
#Fungus may help stop invasive spread of tree-of-heavena naturally occurring fungus might help curb the spread of an invasive tree species that is threatening forests in most of the United states according to researchers.
Researchers tested the fungus--Verticillium nonalfalfae--by injecting it into tree-of-heaven or Ailanthus plots according to Matthew Kasson who recently received his doctorate in plant pathology and environmental microbiology from Penn State.
Using a hatchet that is designed to pump fungal spores into the trees the researchers tested the fungus on 14 tree-of-heaven stands in south-central Pennsylvania.
because tree-of-heaven is very hard to kill said Davis. The researchers noticed a number of Ambrosia beetles near the infected stands leading them to theorize that the fungus often carried through the forests by beetles was involved in the tree deaths.
The effect that the fungus has on other plants will be the subject of further research Kasson said.
However preliminary studies on the vegetation that surrounds Ailanthus groves indicate the fungus may not harm nearby plants and trees.
Only a small percentage of plants near the infected tree-of-heaven plots showed signs of being harmed by the fungus.
Using films made of pullulan--an edible mostly tasteless transparent polymer produced by the fungus Aureobasidium pulluns--researchers evaluated the effectiveness of films containing essential oils derived from rosemary oregano
#Fungus implicated in potato blightscientists at the Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and development Neiker-Tecnalia led by the Doctor in Biology Josã Ignacio Ruiz de Galarreta have identified for the first time the existence in à lava-Araba
of the two sexual types A1 and A2 of the fungus Phytophthora infestans responsible for potato blight. The experts have been able to confirm that the crossing between the two types leads to variants that are more resistant to conventional fungicides
and A2 which would lead to rapid significant changes in the population of the Phytophtora infestans fungus with the appearance of new more aggressive strains resistant to routine phytosanitary teatments.
in order to find out the types of races existing across Spain as a first step towards improving the effectiveness of the fight against this fungus.
Over last summer Phytophthora infestans samples were collected in potato crops affected by the blight in five producing areas across à lava-Araba:
Sexual reproduction produces new racesthe Phytophthora infestans fungus can also reproduce asexually without being crossed. But the biggest problem for potato growers lies in sexual reproduction since this produces new races of the fungus that attack the plants in a more virulent way
and at the same time are more resistant to the treatments designed to eradicate them. Establishing that the A1
As a general rule Phytophthora infestans needs temperatures above 10â C and humidity above 90%in order to develop
in order to prevent resistance appearing in the fungus caused by repeatedly using the same fungicide. Plant lesions become visible on day five following an attack by the fungus.
The symptoms can be seen firstly on the lower leaves where a light-green or yellow spot can be seen on the tips and edges of the leaves.
The scientists looked at the genes'response to five abiotic stresses--drought heavy metal contamination salt cold and nutrient deprivation--and five biotic stresses--bacteria fungus insect predation weed
and fungi that decompose plant matter in healthy ecosystems are hindered by radioactive contamination. They showed a smaller effect for small invertebrates such as termites that also contribute to decomposition of plant biomass.
Benefits included increased carbon and nitrogen in soils erosion prevention more mycorrhizal colonization--beneficial soil fungus that helps plants absorb nutrients--and weed suppression.
At its peak the fungus destroyed the entire malting barley crop in the Red river and Ohio river Valleys according to molecular biologist Yang Yen an Agricultural Experiment Station researcher and professor at South dakota State university.
because the fungus also survives in the ground. Wind and rain splash carry the spores onto the head
The wheat flower must be open for the fungus to enter Yen explains. In susceptible varieties the fungus kills the infected cells in the head thereby plugging the transport of water and nutrients to the upper part of the head.
While diseases such as stem rust want the host to survive Yen says fusarium attacks the wheat
and the kernels collapse because the fungus kills them and lives on the dead cells.
The wheat resisted the fungi. Two of the three genes are involved directly in the chemical pathways Yen explains.
Disease development Essentially Yen hypothesizes that the fungus softens the host cell wall during infection and triggers a chain of host resistance responses.
In the susceptible wheat the disease makes the plant drop this gene expression so the fungus can get established.
and how the fungus suppresses the gene expression. Only then can the researcher figure out how to prevent the disease from becoming an epidemic.
Fusarium head blight results from close interaction between the fungus and the host. We need to understand how this interaction is occurring
When we looked at the soil samples from a lightly encroached hill prairie remnant it was very clear that there was a set of fungi that look like grassland fungi a set of fungi that look like tree fungi
and as the degree of shrub encroachment increased that shrub fungi joined the forest group to become one big woody community.
But the shrub fungi looked a lot more like the forest fungi. We think what we found is the signature of these early changes these early shifts of microbial communities toward a woody fungal community Yannarell said.
We think we can firmly conclude that there are some woody plant-liking fungi. But we don't know
The shrubs could be driving out grass-loving fungi in favor of shrub-loving fungi.
pesticidesresistance to pesticides has now been recorded in nearly a thousand pest species including more than 500 insects 218 weeds and 190 fungi that attack plants.
In total we found eight major groups of animal pathogens that are transmitted potentially at flowers including a trypanosomatid fungi bacteria
honeybees have higher background levels of the virus and the fungus than bumblebees; bumblebee infection is predicted by patterns of honeybee infection;
It is possible that the synthetic version of pheromone could be used in combination with an insect pathogenic fungus that is being studied at Cornell University by Ann Hajek Hoover said.
This fungus can be sprayed on a tree and when beetles walk on it they pick up the fungus
which infects and kills them. By also applying the pheromone that female beetles use to attract males we can trick the male beetles into going to the deadly fungicide rather than to a fertile female.
The key has been to supply breeders with specific proteins (we call them effectors) that the fungi use to cause disease.
and herbivores) and some of which may be beneficial (such as mycorrhizal fungi). By conducting a series of experiments on young plants the researchers have shown that the growth of the lodgepole pine is affected greatly by
while the Swedish soil offers an enhanced mutualism with mycorrhizal fungi. But we have not yet had the opportunity to examine this.
(or fungi) or were derived from a variety of native and nonnative species above-and belowground parts:
and The Sainsbury Laboratory Norwich looked in unprecedented detail at how Phytophthora infestans a pathogen that continues to blight potatoes
Researchers examined the biochemical differences between Phytophthora infestans and sister species Phytophthora mirabilis a pathogen that split from P. infestans around 1300 years ago to target the Mirabilis jalapa plant commonly known as the four o'clock flower.
They found that each pathogen species secretes specialised substances to shut down the defences of their target hosts'Plants have called these enzymes proteases that play a key role in their defence systems'said Dr Renier van der Hoorn co-author of the study from Oxford university
and fungi also kill honeybee larvae within their hives according to Penn State and University of Florida researchers.
or they may indirectly kill them by disrupting the beneficial fungi that are essential for nurse bees to process pollen into beebread.
and nitrogen released by fungi breaking down dead pyralid moths. More moths more nitrogen more algae (which may also provide camouflage to the treed sloths protecting them from flying predators.
because trees and the fungi associated with their roots break down rocks and minerals in the soil to get nutrients for growth.
and fungi were far less effective at breaking down silicate minerals which could have reduced the rate of CO2Â removal from the atmosphere. â#oewe recreated past environmental conditions by growing trees at low present-day and high levels of CO2Â in controlled-environment growth chambersâ#says Quirk
and assess how they were broken down and weathered by the fungi associated with the roots of the trees. â#As reported in Biogeosciences the researchers found that low atmospheric CO2Â acts as a â#carbon starvationâ##brake.
and fungi drop because low CO2Â reduces plantsâ##ability to perform photosynthesis meaning less carbon-energy is supplied to the roots and their fungi.
This in turn means there is less nutrient uptake from minerals in the soil which slows down weathering rates over millions of years. â#oethe last 24 million years saw significant mountain building in the Andes and Himalayas
because trees and fungi broke down minerals at low rates at those concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide. â#oeit is important that we understand the processes that affect
#Meet the rainforest diversity policea new study has revealed that fungi often seen as pests play a crucial role policing biodiversity in rainforests.
The Oxford university-led research found that fungi regulate diversity in rainforests by making dominant species victims of their own success. Fungi spread quickly between closely-packed plants of the same species preventing them from dominating
and we've now shown that fungi play a crucial role. It's astonishing to see microscopic fungi having such a profound effect on entire rainforests.'
'Fungi prevent any single species from dominating rainforests as they spread more easily between plants
and seedlings of the same species . If lots of plants from one species grow in the same place fungi quickly cut their population down to size levelling the playing field to give rarer species a fighting chance.
Plots sprayed with fungicide soon become dominated by a few species at the expense of many others leading to a marked drop in diversity.'
'We expected that removal of both fungi and insects would have an effect on the tree species'said Professor Rob Freckleton of Sheffield University who co-led the study.'
'However what was unexpected was that removal of the fungi affected diversity but eliminating insects didn't. Ours is the first study to unpick the effects of the different natural enemies.'
Ridomil Goldâ had no significant effect on the number of surviving species suggesting that true fungi
'The findings show that fungi play a vital role in maintaining the biodiversity of rainforests preventing a few highly competitive species from dominating.
'We suspect that the effect of fungi will be strongest in wetter hotter areas because this is where they thrive'said lead author Dr Robert Bagchi who began the study at Oxford university
'This has important implications for how rainforests will respond to climate change which is predicted often to reduce overall rainfall making it harder for fungi to spread.
Without fungi to keep species in check we could see a significant knock-on effect and lose a lot of the diversity that makes rainforests so special.'
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