Crop Centre in Print
Please find the latest journal publications from the Crop Centre listed below.
For a full list of publications from the School of Life Sciences please visit the Latest Journal Publications
Aquaporins influence seed dormancy and germination in response to stress
Steven Footitt, Rachel Clewes, Mistianne Feeney, William E. Finch‐Savage, Lorenzo Frigerio
Aquaporins influence water flow in plants, yet little is known of their involvement in the water-driven process of seed germination. We therefore investigated their role in seeds in the laboratory and under field and global warming conditions. We propose that the different responses of the seed tonoplast intrinsic proteins contribute to mechanisms that influence dormancy status and the timing of germination under variable soil conditions.
John Clarkson publications
First report of Fusarium oxysproum f.sp.lactucae Race 4 causing lettuce wilt in England and Ireland
A. Taylor, A.C. Jackson, and J.P. Clarkson
An outbreak of lettuce wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lactucae, was reported in the UK and Ireland for the first time in October 2017 although earlier observations of the symptoms had been made in August 2017 in Lancashire and summer 2016 in Ireland. The pathogen was identified by genomic analysis as race 4 of F. oxysporum f. sp. lactucae (FOL4), a particularly aggressive strain of the fungus with no known treatment or varietal resistance available. FOL race 4 has recently been identified in another area of the UK (Cambridgeshire) and is a serious threat to UK lettuce production. It is also present in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Plant Disease. February 2019
First report of Fusarium oxysporum and Fusarium redolens causing wilting and yellowing of wild rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia) in the UK
A. Taylor, A. Barnes, A.C. Jackson, and J.P. Clarkson
This is the first report of Fusarium wilt of rocket in the UK and to our knowledge the first ever report of F. redolens causing wilt of wild rocket. F. oxysporum has been reported to cause wilt of wild rocket in Italy (Garibaldi et al. 2003) whilst F. redolens is known to cause wilt of chickpea (Jimenez-Fernandez et al. 2011).
Plant Disease. February 2019
Transgressive segregation reveals mechanisms of Arabidopsis immunity to Brassica-infecting races of white rust (Albugo candida)
Volkan Cevik, Freddy Boutrot, Wiebke Apel, Alexandre Robert-Seilaniantz, Oliver J. Furzer, Amey Redkar, Baptiste Castel, Paula X. Kover, David C. Prince, Eric B. Holub and Jonathan D. G. Jones
Barley resists wheat-infecting powdery mildew races (and vice versa), and both barley and wheat resist potato late blight. Such “nonhost” resistance could result because the pathogen fails to suppress defense or triggers innate immunity due to failure to evade detection. Albugo candida causes white rust on most Brassicaceae, and we investigated Arabidopsis NHR to Brassica-infecting races. Transgressive segregation for resistance in Arabidopsis recombinant inbred lines revealed genes encoding nucleotide-binding, leucine-rich repeat (NLR) immune receptors. Some of these NLR-encoding genes confer resistance to white rust in Brassica sp. This genetic method thus provides a route to reveal resistance genes for crops, widening the pool from which such genes might be obtained.
Draft Genome Sequence of an Onion Basal Rot Isolate of Fusarium proliferatum
Armitage AD, Taylor A, Hulin MT, Jackson AC, Harrison RJ, Clarkson JP
Fusarium proliferatum is a component of the onion basal rot disease complex. We present an annotated F. proliferatum draft genome sequence, totaling 45.8 Mb in size, assembled into 597 contigs, with a predicted 15,418 genes. The genome contains 58 secondary metabolite clusters and homologs of the Fusarium oxysporum effector SIX2.
Adaptive significance of functional germination traits in crop wild relatives of Brassica
E Castillo-Lorenzo, WE Finch-Savage, CE Seal, HW Pritchard
Functional germination traits contribute to both niche competitiveness and crop yield outcomes. However, there is little understanding of the adaptive significance of the germination thermal- and hydro-parameters in crop wild relatives, yet these species are anticipated to be the source of adaptive traits for future agriculture. Seeds of 10 seed lots of Brassica species, sub-species and inbred lines from across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East were subjected to a range of temperature and water potential conditions. Our results show that the selection of the crop B. oleracea for fastest germination under irrigated conditions likely limits the capacity of the current genepool to cope with erratic periods of drought predicted in future European climates.
Assessment of the response of pollinator abundance to environmental pressures using structured expert elicitation
Barons, Martine J., Hanea, Anca M., Wright, Sophia K., Baldock, Katherine C. R., Wilfert, Lena, Chandler, Dave, Datta, Samik, Fannon, Jessica, Hartfield, Chris, Lucas, Andrew, Ollerton, Jeff, Potts, Simon G. and Carreck, Norman L.
For policy-makers wishing to make evidence-based decisions which will best support pollinator abundance and pollination services, one of the problems faced is how to access the information and evidence they need, and how to combine it to formulate and evaluate candidate policies. The pressures affecting the survival and pollination capabilities of honey bees, wild bees, and other pollinators are well documented, but incomplete. In order to estimate the potential effectiveness of various candidate policy choices, there is an urgent need to quantify the effect of various combinations of factors on the pollination ecosystem service. Here we report and discuss the outputs of the novel use of a structured expert elicitation, designed to quantify the probability of good pollinator abundance given a variety of weather, disease, and habitat scenarios.