Klosterman SJ, Subbarao KV, Kang S, Veronese P, Gold SE, Thomma BPHJ, Chen Z, Henrissat B, Lee Y-H, Park J, Garcia-Pedrajas MD, Barbara DJ, Anchieta A, de Jonge R, Santhanam P, Maruthachalam K, Atallah Z, Amyotte SG, Paz Z, Inderbitzin P, Hayes RJ, Heiman DI, Young S, Zeng Q, Engels R, Galagan J, Cuomo CA, Dobinson KF, Ma L-J

Vascular wilts are chronic plant diseases often causing severe damage to crops. Wilting occurs when pathogenic microbes colonize the xylem causing water blockages. This study reveals insights into the genetic mechanisms of niche adaptation of fungal wilt pathogens, advances our understanding of the evolution and development of their pathogenesis, and sheds light on potential avenues for the development of novel disease management strategies to combat destructive wilt diseases.

PLoS Pathog 7(7): e1002137. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1002137

Ian G Burns, Kefeng Zhang, Mary K Turner, Mark Meacham, Khalid Al-Redhiman, James Lynn, Martin R Broadley, Paul Hand, David Pink

Nitrate accumulates in plants in response to N supply, aerial environment (predominantly light), and genotype. This paper characterises the effects of genotype, environment, and their interactions on nitrate accumulation by 24 cultivated and wild lettuce accessions grown hydroponically in winter and summer. The results will inform future strategies for selecting for low-nitrate varieties.

John Clarkson, Helen Carter and Emma Coventry

During a diversity study of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, a common and important pathogen causing disease on many vegetable crops and wild plants, the related species S. subarctica was identified on diseased flowers of meadow buttercup (Ranunculus acris). Previously S. subarctica has only been found causing disease on vegetable crops in Alaska and this study showed that S. subarctica was also pathogenic on oilseed rape. So far S. subarctica has not been found on crops in the UK but it may be a potential threat in the future and further studies to understand its biology and epidemiology are required.

First report of Sclerotinia subarctica nom. prov. (Sclerotinia species 1) in the UK on Ranunculus acris 

Charlotte J Allender and Graham J King (2010)

The amphiploid species Brassica napus (oilseed rape, Canola) is a globally important oil crop yielding food, biofuels and industrial compounds such as lubricants and surfactants. Identification of the likely ancestors of each of the two genomes (designated A and C) found in B. napus would facilitate incorporation of novel alleles from the wider Brassica genepool in oilseed rape crop genetic improvement programmes. In this paper, researchers have used a combination of chloroplast and nuclear genetic markers to investigate the closest extant relatives of the original maternal progenitors of B. napus.

BMC Plant Biology 2010, 10:54

H Jabnoun-Khiareddine, M Daami-Remadi, D Barbara and M El Mahjoub (2009)

This research describes the identification of V.tricorpus on potato tubers in Tunisia.

The African Journal of Plant Science and Biotechnology 3 (Special Issue 1): 24-25