[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [SANET-MG] BBC NEWS | UK | England | Tyne/Wear | Researchers hail organic potatoes
Katherine Marsh wrote from Ireland:
> Sarpo Axona has just started to go down with blight here in north
> Dublin, Sarpo Mira is still clear, as is Symfonia. Lady Eve
> Balfour survived to this week but showed the first signs of blight
> three days ago. I've taken the individual damaged leaves off and I
> think it will keep growing and make a worthwhile crop. Across the
> road sixty acres of Rooster which have been sprayed with Dithane
> at many times the legal limit are being ploughed in today.
Does history have to repeat itself? Phytophthora attacks the roots
of the pineapple plant and substances produced by the beneficial
fungus Pisolithus Tinctorius are specifically active against it.
This is good re Phytophthora infestans:
<http://www.tigr.org/tdb/e2k1/pima1/index.shtml>
(My comments are interspaced 2 spaces to the left)
Late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans is a devastating
disease of potato and tomato in the U.S. and worldwide. Epidemics
due to P. infestans in 1845 led to the Irish potato famine and the
mass migration and death of millions of people in Ireland. Late
blight is now considered a re-emerging disease and has reached
epidemic proportions in North America and Europe due to the
development of resistance to the fungicide metalaxyl in
populations of the pathogen and the widespread occurrence of new
genotypes.
Fungicides can't change their actions but beneficial organisms can
continue to adapt to any changes the pathogen develops.
The pathogen causes a destructive foliar blight and
also infects potato tubers and tomato fruit under cool, moist
conditions.
That's where a compost tea containing P. Tintorius would fit in.
... P. infestans was ranked number two by the American
Phytopathological Society on the list of plant pathogen species
targeted for DNA sequencing and whole genome sequencing is now
underway at the Whitehead Institute at MIT. There is a large
database of genetic information available on P. infestans
including a genetic linkage map and expressed sequence tag (EST)
libraries and genetic systems are tractable.
They are attempting to study this pathogen in a vacuum. Studying
it's interactions with other organisms would be much more useful.
In addition, the Phytophthora research community holds regular
meetings and exchanges information freely and has formed the
Phytophthora Molecular Genetic Network whose goal is to facilitate
the exchange of information and resources related to Phytophthora
molecular genetics.
Are they looking for the factors that make it a pathogen?
... One tool that would be of use to scientists and growers would
be the ability to rapidly genotype isolates of the pathogen.
Haplotypes could be correlated with virulence
They are.
and resistance to pesticides
But why limit remediation to chemical solutions that ignore the
causative factors and fail to deal with them? Instead of modifying
the environment in positive ways, this approach worsens
environmental quality and weakens it's equilibrium, diminishing the
presence, activity and diversity of the soil microorganisms
responsible for soil organisms are also responsible for capturing
and facilitating the assimilation of nutrients by plants, as well as
growth-stimulating phyto-hormones and substances with anti-biotic
activity against pathogens.
and used in epidemiological studies
In addition, whole mitochondrial genome sequence analysis will be
useful in studies to examine molecular evolution in the pathogen.
It would be more useful if it's interactions with other species were
taken into account, also.
...
Project Members
# Jean Beagle Ristaino, Professor, Plant Pathology, N. C. State Univ., Jean_Ristaino@ncsu.edu
# C. Robin Buell, Associate Investigator, The Institute for Genomic Research, rbuell@tigr.org
# Luis Alpizar Gomez, Graduate assistant, NCSU, legomez@unity.ncsu.edu
# Shu Ouyang, Bioinformatics Analyst, TIGR, souyang@tigr.org
I am sending a copy of this to each of them.
--
Douglas Hinds
Coordinador Nacional de Producción Organica
Confederacion Nacional de Propietarios Rurales
Chair, Organic Pineapple Working Group
International Society for Horticultural Science
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/opwg
Dir. Gral.
Centro para el Desarrollo Comunitario y Rural, A.C.
********************************************************
To unsubscribe from SANET-MG:
1- Visit http://lists.sare.org/archives/sanet-mg.html to unsubscribe or;
2- Send a message to <listserv@sare.org> from the address subscribed to the list. Type "unsubscribe sanet-mg" in the body of the message.
Visit the SANET-MG archives at: http://lists.sare.org/archives/sanet-mg.html.
Questions? Visit http://www.sare.org/about/sanetFAQ.htm.
For more information on grants and other resources available through the SARE program, please visit http://www.sare.org.