, the causal agent of white mould, is a necrotrophic fungal pathogen responsible for extensive crop loss. Current control options rely heavily on the application of chemical fungicides that are becoming less effective and may lead to the development of fungal resistance. In the current study, we used a foliar application of boron to protect (canola) from infection using whole-plant infection assays.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFusarium head blight (FHB) is a devastating fungal disease responsible for significant yield losses in wheat and other cereal crops across the globe. FHB infection of wheat spikes results in grain contamination with mycotoxins, reducing both grain quality and yield. Breeding strategies have resulted in the production of FHB-resistant cultivars, however, the underlying molecular mechanisms of resistance in the majority of these cultivars are still poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe causative agent of white mold, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is capable of infecting over 600 plant species and is responsible for significant crop losses across the globe. Control is currently dependent on broad-spectrum chemical agents that can negatively impact the agroecological environment, presenting a need to develop alternative control measures. In this study, we developed transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana (AT1703) expressing hairpin (hp)RNA to silence S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSclerotinia sclerotiorum is a pathogenic fungus that infects hundreds of crop species, causing extensive yield loss every year. Chemical fungicides are used to control this phytopathogen, but with concerns about increasing resistance and impacts on non-target species, there is a need to develop alternative control measures. In the present study, we engineered Brassica napus to constitutively express a hairpin (hp)RNA molecule to silence ABHYRDOLASE-3 in S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhite mold is caused by the fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and leads to rapid and significant loss in plant yield. Among its many brassicaceous hosts, including Brassica napus (canola) and Arabidopsis, the response of individual tissue layers directly at the site of infection has yet to be explored. Using laser microdissection coupled with RNA sequencing, we profiled the epidermis, mesophyll, and vascular leaf tissue layers of B.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTranscription factors and their associated DNA binding sites are key regulatory elements of cellular differentiation, development, and environmental response. New tools that predict transcriptional regulation of biological processes are valuable to researchers studying both model and emerging-model plant systems. SeqEnrich predicts transcription factor networks from co-expressed Arabidopsis or Brassica napus gene sets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe hemibiotrophic fungal pathogen Leptosphaeria maculans is the causal agent of blackleg disease in Brassica napus (canola, oilseed rape) and causes significant loss of yield worldwide. While genetic resistance has been used to mitigate the disease by means of traditional breeding strategies, there is little knowledge about the genes that contribute to blackleg resistance. RNA sequencing and a streamlined bioinformatics pipeline identified unique genes and plant defense pathways specific to plant resistance in the B.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Univ Carol Med Monogr
February 2010
The United States National Science Foundation has recently funded a large collaborative project on "A History of Health in Europe from the Late Paleolithic Era to the Present," whose goal is to measure and analyzes the evolution of skeletal health by combining data from human remains with information gathered from sources in archaeology, climate history, geography, and history. The goal of this international collaborative project is to create a series of database that will allow researchers to reinterpret the history of human health in Europe from the late Paleolithic era to the early twentieth century. During this period, human health and welfare were transformed enormously by the transition from foraging to farming; the rise of cities and complex forms of social and political organization; European colonization; and industrialization.
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