Sweet chestnut, an Asiatic tree introduced in many parts of Europe including the United Kingdom, is planted for nut production, timber, and amenity. Its major threat is the disease called blight, ...caused by the fungus
, which infects through wounds by airborne spores. Field trapping using sticky rods rotating traps was performed in an infected area in Devon (between May 2021 and April 2023). An improved dual hydrolysis Taqman probes real-time PCR was used. The number of spores was calculated by comparing the cycle threshold to the Ct of standards with known amounts of conidia or known target fragment copies cloned into a plasmid. Weekly spore counts were in the range of around 60 to approximately 8.5 × 10
, with fluctuations of peaks (mainly in late summer-autumn 2021) and troughs. The effects of weather parameters were modelled, finding correlations between spore numbers and temperature, humidity, dewpoint, rainfall, wind speed, and wind duration. Additionally, an insect trapping was performed to confirm the presence/absence and quantity of
conidia potentially phoretic on some insects by using the same molecular approach. None of the ten collected insect species harboured spores of this fungus.
In order to study sexual violence internationally, it is helpful to understand similarities and differences in how sexual violence is conceptualised across countries. The current study examined ...prosecuting attorneys' judgments about which sexual tactics legally qualify as sexual violence in two countries. Attorneys from the U.S. (n = 28) and Colombia (n = 24) evaluated whether 36 tactics would qualify as a sexual offense in their jurisdiction. Although Colombian and U.S. attorneys agreed on the legality of many tactics, Colombian attorneys judged more behaviours as criminal, on average, than U.S. attorneys. Within-country variations suggested that differences were due not only to different legal statutes, but also to different interpretations of laws. Open-ended responses illustrated sources of ambiguity, including lack of clarity about how much coercion is required and which behaviours indicate nonconsent. This suggests that vagueness within legal definitions may allow attorney judgements to be influenced by stereotypes and prejudices.
This study illustrates the vagueness of legal definitions of sexual violence in two countries-the United States and Colombia. This vagueness provides prosecuting attorneys with substantial power to interpret the law, and in this study, some attorney judgements of legality seemed to be influenced by stereotypes. Greater training for law students and attorneys about the realities of sexual violence may be helpful in undermining belief in rape myths that may inhibit attorneys from prosecuting certain sexual violence cases.
Thirty-one loquat orchards (Eriobotrya japonica ‘Algerie’) with plants exhibiting decline symptoms were surveyed between 2004 and 2007 in the province of Alicante, Spain. Twenty-eight representative ...isolates with Cylindrocarpon-like asexual morphs recovered from affected roots were included in this study, with the objective to characterize them by means of phenotypical characterization, DNA analysis and pathogenicity tests. Dactylonectria alcacerensis, D. torresensis and Ilyonectria robusta were identified based on morphological and cultural characteristics as well as DNA sequence data for part of histone H3, with D. torresensis the most frequent species. All of them are reported for the first time on loquat, and I. robusta is reported for the first time in Spain. In addition, one species is newly described, Cylindrodendrum alicantinum. Pathogenicity tests with representative isolates showed that these species were able to induce typical root rot disease symptoms, affecting plant development or even leading to plant death. This research demonstrates the association of species belonging to the genera Cylindrodendrum, Dactylonectria and Ilyonectria with root rot of loquat and loquat decline in the province of Alicante (eastern Spain). This information should be considered for the improvement of the current management strategies against these soil-borne pathogens when establishing new loquat plantations or introducing new susceptible fruit crops in the region.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that results from the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the
(
). Since there are only symptomatic treatments available, new cellular and ...molecular targets involved in the onset and progression of this disease are needed to develop effective treatments. CCAAT/Enhancer Binding Protein β (C/EBPβ) transcription factor levels are altered in patients with a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, suggesting that it may be a good therapeutic target for the treatment of PD. A list of genes involved in PD that can be regulated by C/EBPβ was generated by the combination of genetic and in silico data, the mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) being among them. In this paper, we observed that C/EBPβ overexpression increased TFAM promoter activity. However, downregulation of C/EBPβ in different PD/neuroinflammation cellular models produced an increase in TFAM levels, together with other mitochondrial markers. This led us to propose an accumulation of non-functional mitochondria possibly due to the alteration of their autophagic degradation in the absence of C/EBPβ. Then, we concluded that C/EBPβ is not only involved in harmful processes occurring in PD, such as inflammation, but is also implicated in mitochondrial function and autophagy in PD-like conditions.
KEY MESSAGE : The speed of infection of Quercus ilex by Phytophthora cinnamomi is influenced by the method of inoculation used, and structural changes in the host do not differ depending on whether ...primary or secondary roots are infected. This study aimed to elucidate the infection process of the invasive pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi on primary and secondary roots of 2-month-old Quercus ilex seedlings. To test if different methods of inoculation lead to different changes in the host caused by the pathogen, the root system of plants was either immersed into a suspension of P. cinnamomi zoospores, or placed in direct contact with agar plugs colonized by P. cinnamomi mycelium. Histology of root sections obtained every 24 h for 10 days revealed similar changes in the structure of cells and tissues of the host irrespective of the inoculation method used. However, the immersion method resulted in a delay in the colonization of the host, different aerial symptoms, and the formation of different reproductive structures of the pathogen. Emerging secondary and tertiary roots and sites where secondary or tertiary roots were about to emerge were identified as main entry points. Hyphae in the xylem tissues were more frequently found in secondary than in primary roots, but in both types of roots the phloem was the most important pathway of colonization. For the first time in the interaction between Q. ilex and P. cinnamomi, transmission electron microscopy was used to describe degradation of the host cell walls, pit penetration and extrahaustorial matrix. Haustoria development during intracellular growth and hyphal aggregations (stromata) caused no damage to the host cell walls indicating hemibiotrophic parasitism.
Studies of the virome of olive trees with symptoms of leaf mottling by high-throughput sequencing (HTS) revealed the presence of a new virus. Full coding genome sequences of two isolates were ...determined and consisted of a single RNA segment of 16,516 nt and 16,489, respectively. The genomic organization contained 10 open reading frames (ORFs) from 5′ to 3′: ORF1a, ORF1b (RdRp), ORF2 (p22), ORF3 (p7), ORF4 (HSP70h), ORF5 (HSP90h), ORF6 (CP), ORF7 (p19), ORF8 (p12), ORF9 (p23) and ORF10 (p9). Phylogenetic analyses clustered this virus in the genus Olivavirus, family Closteroviridae, with the closest species being Olivavirus flaviolae, commonly named olive leaf yellowing-associated virus (OLYaV). However, amino acid sequences of all taxonomically relevant proteins showed, in all cases, a divergence higher than 25% between OLYaV and the new virus, indicating that it represents a new species in the genus Olivavirus for which the common name of olive leaf mottling virus (OLMV) is proposed. This study represents an advance in the genus Olivavirus and provides new insights into the olive virome.
The early detection of plant pests and diseases is vital to the success of any eradication or control programme, but the resources for surveillance are often limited. Plant health authorities can ...however make use of observations from individuals and stakeholder groups who are monitoring for signs of ill health. Volunteered data is most often discussed in relation to citizen science groups, however these groups are only part of a wider network of professional agents, land-users and owners who can all contribute to significantly increase surveillance efforts through "passive surveillance". These ad-hoc reports represent chance observations by individuals who may not necessarily be looking for signs of pests and diseases when they are discovered. Passive surveillance contributes vital observations in support of national and international surveillance programs, detecting potentially unknown issues in the wider landscape, beyond points of entry and the plant trade. This review sets out to describe various forms of passive surveillance, identify analytical methods that can be applied to these "messy" unstructured data, and indicate how new programs can be established and maintained. Case studies discuss two tree health projects from Great Britain (TreeAlert and Observatree) to illustrate the challenges and successes of existing passive surveillance programmes. When analysing passive surveillance reports it is important to understand the observers' probability to detect and report each plant health issue, which will vary depending on how distinctive the symptoms are and the experience of the observer. It is also vital to assess how representative the reports are and whether they occur more frequently in certain locations. Methods are increasingly available to predict species distributions from large datasets, but more work is needed to understand how these apply to rare events such as new introductions. One solution for general surveillance is to develop and maintain a network of tree health volunteers, but this requires a large investment in training, feedback and engagement to maintain motivation. There are already many working examples of passive surveillance programmes and the suite of options to interpret the resulting datasets is growing rapidly.
A non-papillate, heterothallic Phytophthora species first isolated in 2001 and subsequently from symptomatic roots, crowns and stems of 33 plant species in 25 unrelated botanical families from 13 ...countries is formally described here as a new species. Symptoms on various hosts included crown and stem rot, chlorosis, wilting, leaf blight, cankers and gumming. This species was isolated from Australia, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom and United States in association with shrubs and herbaceous ornamentals grown mainly in greenhouses. The most prevalent hosts are English ivy (Hedera helix) and Cistus (Cistus salvifolius). The association of the species with acorn banksia (Banksia prionotes) plants in natural ecosystems in Australia, in affected vineyards (Vitis vinifera) in South Africa and almond (Prunus dulcis) trees in Spain and Turkey in addition to infection of shrubs and herbaceous ornamentals in a broad range of unrelated families are a sign of a wide ecological adaptation of the species and its potential threat to agricultural and natural ecosystems. The morphology of the persistent non-papillate ellipsoid sporangia, unique toruloid lobate hyphal swellings and amphigynous antheridia does not match any of the described species. Phylogenetic analysis based on sequences of the ITS rDNA, EF-1α, and β-tub supported that this organism is a hitherto unknown species. It is closely related to species in ITS clade 7b with the most closely related species being P. sojae. The name Phytophthora niederhauserii has been used in previous studies without the formal description of the holotype. This name is validated in this manuscript with the formal description of Phytophthora niederhauserii Z.G. Abad et J.A. Abad, sp. nov. The name is coined to honor Dr John S. Niederhauser, a notable plant pathologist and the 1990 World Food Prize laureate.
Thirty-eight Phaeoacremonium isolates collected from pruning wounds of tropical sandalwood in Western Australia were studied with morphological and cultural characteristics as well as phylogenetic ...analyses of combined DNA sequences of the actin and β-tubulin genes. Three known Phaeoacremonium species were found, namely P. alvesii, P. parasiticum, and P. venezuelense. Phaeoacremonium venezuelense represents a new record for Australia. Two new species are described: P. luteum sp. nov. can be identified by the ability to produce yellow pigment on MEA, PDA, and OA, the predominance of subcylindrical to subulate type II phialides, and the mycelium showing prominent exudate droplets observed as warts; and P. santali sp. nov. which can be separated from other species producing pink colonies on MEA by the predominance of type I and II phialides, the distinct brownish olive colonies in OA, and slow growth.
Between 2010 and 2013 several English holly trees showing defoliation, leaf and twig blight were found in natural ecosystems in Sardinia and Corsica. A Phytophthora species was consistently isolated ...from necrotic tissues of leaves and twigs, and bleeding cankers on stems. Isolates obtained were identified as Phytophthora ilicis, on the basis of morphological features, colony patterns and growth rates at different temperatures. Identity was confirmed by sequence analyses of the ITS, β-tubulin and coxl gene regions. Two different genotypes within P. ilicis were detected. Pathogenicity of P. ilicis isolates was verified by inoculating freshly cut twigs of English holly. Phytophthora ilicis was originally recorded on English holly in western USA, and to date has been found only in cool temperate regions in northern America and, more recently, in Europe. This is the first report of P. ilicis on English holly in the Mediterranean region. Two additional Phytophthora species were isolated from other trees and shrubs species growing together with English holly, including P. bilorbang from Alnus glutinosa leaves and P. pseudosyringae from rhizosphere soil samples of A. glutinosa and Castanea sativa, and from symptomatic leaves of Hedera helix.
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