Key Finding: Many Pathogenic Fungi Use the Same Entrance to Invade Host Cells

Some crop--and even human--diseases might be stopped dead in their tracks if researchers can harness a new discovery about how pathogens first infect their hosts.

Like a burglar with a universal lock pick, many deadly pathogens use the same protein to gain access to the cells of a potential host, researchers have discovered. The new findings could have implications for blocking infections by agents ranging from wheat rust to malaria.

Pathogenic fungi, such as flax rust and soybean rust, and similar pathogens known as oomycetes, such as the organism behind the Irish potato famine and sudden oak death, make similar proteins to disarm their hosts' defenses. But to work, these effector proteins need to first make their way inside of a cell. And until now, scientists did not know, in the first place, how these compounds were able to break in.

A new study, published online July 22 in Cell describes how these blights do it.


Read the full article in Scientific American

Schmidt, D. and Garbelotto, M. 2010. Efficacy of phosphonate treatments against Sudden Oak Death in tanoaks. Phytopathology 100:S115.

Pytophthora ramorum, the causal agent of Sudden Oak Death (SOD), has killed hundreds of thousands of trees in California and Oregon. Tanoaks (Lithocarpus densiflorus) are both stem and foliar hosts and, as such, die from SOD and help spread the disease. Phosphonate treatments are routinely used in agricultural and orchard crops affected by Phytophthora diseases. We have developed a detached-leaf bioassay for studying the effectiveness of phosphonate treatments for SOD in tanoaks. The assay involves infecting the petioles of tanoak leaves with agar plugs of P. ramorum in culture. SOD infection is analyzed by examining the spread of P. ramorum down the midrib of the leaf. This assay has shown that tanoaks in wildland settings, treated with phosphonates, are resistant to SOD infection. In addition, we are maintaining long-term studies of tanoaks treated with phosphonates in SOD infected forest areas. Paired 20mx20m treatment and control plots were established near existing SOD infections. The trees were evaluated for disease symptoms and general health prior to the initial treatment and each subsequent year. The results show that phosphonate treatments are effective at slowing and preventing the spread of the disease in the treated areas. Treatments at the leading edge of SOD infected areas were less effective, confirming that phosphonate treatments are significantly more effective as preventative rather than curative treatments.

Phytophthora species in streams

Hwang, J.; Jeffers, S.N.; and Oak, S.W. 2010. Aquatic habitats—A reservoir for population diversity in the genus Phytophthora. Phytopathology 100:S150.

Occurrences of oak decline and sudden oak death in forests of Europe and the west coast of the U.S.A., respectively, have focused attention on the species of Phytophthora present in natural ecosystems. We have been investigating the diversity of species of Phytophthora present in forest streams in the eastern U.S.A. Phytophthora spp. are well adapted to aquatic environments and can be recovered from stream water by baiting and filtration. Extensive surveys in multiple states revealed that a diversity of species occurs naturally in forest streams. In one study, five forest streams in western North Carolina were monitored monthly for a year. Seven species—P. cambivora, P. cinnamomi, P. citricola, P. citrophthora, P. gonapodyides, P. heveae, and P. pseudosyringae—and seven morphologically and genetically distinct groups of isolates were detected. Samples of stream-side soils and plants with symptoms also were collected, but only three species were detected: P. cinnamomi and P. heveae in soils and P. citricola and P. heveae on plants. Species of Phytophthora consistently were detected in streams during winter months when air temperatures were near or below freezing, which are not conducive to lesion development and sporulation. These results suggest that the native population of Phytophthora spp. in stream water is different from those in terrestrial habitats. The species of Phytophthora present in streams may occupy a unique niche—i.e., they appear to be aquatic inhabitants and not transient visitors.

Genetic diversity of P. ramorum population in Canada

Goss, E.M.; Larsen, M.; Vercauteren, A.; Werres, S.; Heungens, K.; and Grunwald, N.J. 2010. Genotypic diversity of Phytophthora ramorum in Canada. Phytopathology 100:S42.

Characterization of the genetic structure and diversity of the sudden oak death pathogen, Phythophthora ramorum, in ornamental nurseries in the United States has shown that all three known clonal lineages of the pathogen are present. The most common clonal lineage in U.S. nurseries has been the NA1 clonal lineage, which has the wider distribution in the United States as a result of interstate shipments of infected nursery stock. British Columbia (BC), Canada is also known to have nursery infestations of P. ramorum, and shipments of infected plants between the United States and BC have occurred. We investigated the genotypic diversity of P. ramorum in BC nurseries and compared this population to U.S. and European nursery populations. All three of the P. ramorum clonal lineages were found among Canadian nursery isolates, but the most common was the NA2 lineage. The NA1 clonal lineage was found infrequently in comparison to the United States. The EU1 lineage was observed almost every year and shared multilocus genotypes with isolates from Europe and the United States. Appropriate markers for the characterization of the NA2 lineage are needed.

Stream in NC positive for P. ramorum

Water draining an infested nursery in Mecklenburg County (Charlotte), NC has been found to have Phytophthora ramorum as a result of the 2010 National P. ramorum Early Detection Survey of Forests. The rhododendron leaf baits were deployed by survey cooperators in the NC Forest Service and diagnosis made from several baiting periods via PCR by the survey's Eastern Regional Diagnostic Lab at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. This brings the total number of positive waterways to 10 in six states outside areas where P. ramorum is found in California and Oregon forest areas (WA [2], AL [4], MS [1], GA [1], FL [1], and NC [1]). Cooperative streamside vegetation surveys are being planned for the fall by the USDA Forest Service, NC Forest Service, and NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to determine if the pathogen has become established in terrestrial ecosystems.

from COMTF July newsletter