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Dynamics of amphibian pathogen infection cycles

Two papers out this week on the population dynamics and epidemiology of the chytrid pathogen of amphibians, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). This is work from the Vredenburg and Briggs labs that includes several decade-long studies of frog declines and the prevalence of Bd.

See Vance in action swabbing a frog

In the Briggs et al paper, they describe [...]

Origins and evolution of pathogens

ResearchBlogging.org An article in PLoS Pathogens by Morris et al describe a hypothesis about the evolution and origins of plant pathogens applying the parallel theories to the emergence of medically relevant pathogens. The authors highlight the importance of understanding the evolution of organisms in the context of emerging pathogens like Puccinia Ug99 for our ability to design strategies to protect human health and food supplies.  Both bacterial and fungal pathogens of plants are discussed but I (perhaps unsurprisingly) focus on the fungi here. Continue reading Origins and evolution of pathogens

White-nose syndrome fungus to be sequenced

As part of the dermatophyte efforts and emerging infectious diseases the Fungal Genome Initiative at the Broad Institute will be sequencing the genome of Geomyces destructans. G. destructans is linked to the white-nose syndrome in Bats.

See also some recent posts on [...]

Genome survey sequencing of Witches’ Broom

Genome survey sequencing (1.9X coverage) was generated for Moniliophthora perniciosa, the cause of witches’ broom disease on cacao plants. The sequence for this basidiomycete plant pathogen was published in BMC Genomics this week. The authors report a higher number of ROS metabolism and P450 genes. Evaluating whether these copy number differences are significantly different from [...]

Bat White-nose syndrome brevia

A Brevia piece in Science today describes efforts to describe the causal agent in white-nose syndrome (WNS) in bats which appears to be contributing to bat decline. According to the authors, previous work had described an uncharacterized fungus associated with bats that showed signs of being sick with WNS.

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A word about databases

Logo for fungal GenomesReport concludes that a fungal genome database is of “the highest priority”.

This is the title as listed in PubMed for this article from Future Medicine about the AAM report on charting future needs and avenues of research on the fungal kingdom.

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Cochliobolus genome released

Just noticed that the [[JGI]] has released the Cochliobolus heterostrophus genome sequence at their site predicting 9,633 protein-coding genes.  Torrey Mesa Research Institute had access to a sequence many years ago, but it isn’t until now that public version of this genome is available.  Cochliobolus is has been a model plant pathogen system and its production of T-Toxin by a PKS gene (Yang et al) [...]

Amphibian skin bacteria shown to fight off Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.

A year ago researchers at James Madison University discovered that, Pedobacter cryoconitis, a bacteria first found on the skin of red backed salamanders, was found to prevent the growth of the chytrid B. dendrobatidis, which is currently decimating frog populations.

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Stem rust

Spread of wheat rust Puccinia strain Ug99 and consequences on already strained food supplies is discussed in an Op-Ed piece covered in GeneticMaize [...]

Deconstructing aflatoxin biosynthesis

A paper in Science from Jason Crawford and colleagues explores the function of polyketide synthetases (PKS) in the synthesis of the secondary metabolite and carcinogen aflatoxin. Previous work (nicely reviewed in the fungi by Nancy Keller and colleagues) has shown the the PKS genes have several domains. These domains include acyl carrier protein (ACP), transacylase (SAT), ketosynthase (KS), malonyl-CoA:ACP transacylase (MAT), “product template” PT, Aand thioesterase/Claisen cyclase (TE/CLC). [...]