CRC for Plant Biosecurity - Updates

The Leaflet October 2009

VANMEURSA — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:11:15 +0000

Find out what the CRCNPB has been up to in the October issue of The Leaflet

Gene search into the secrets of a super-bug crop destroyer

VANMEURSA — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:02:32 +0000

Media Release: 22 October 2009

The genetic make-up of one of the world’s most devastating crop pests, the Russian wheat aphid, is being analysed as part of a sophisticated biosecurity effort to protect Australia’s wheat industry – and the numerous regional communities it supports.

Australian researchers are part of an international consortium that is sequencing the genes of aphids in a bid to eventually breed wheat varieties that have long-term resistance to the pest.

Australia’s wheat industry is worth almost $5 billion annually and Australia is the only major wheat-growing region of the world currently free of the pest, which can wipe out entire crops. Both barley and wheat are affected.

So destructive is the pest that none of the aphids can be brought into the country even for research purposes. Instead, Australian scientists are relying on their international partners to assist them in studying this insect. Australian researchers are also using the pea aphid as a surrogate for their local research.

CSIRO entomologist Dr Owain Edwards is leader of a Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for National Plant Biosecurity project to develop Australia’s response to any incursion by the Russian wheat aphid.

Dr Edwards says since the 1970s the aphid has spread rapidly through the major wheat-growing regions of the world from the Middle East and Balkan states where it appears to be endemic.

“It causes major crop destruction for the first five to seven years after it appears in a new region, until the ecosystem establishes a balance, with occasional outbreaks causing ongoing problems.

"It remains a major pest in the US and South Africa. These countries spent 10 years developing and rolling out resistant wheat varieties, but all of the original resistant wheats relied on a single resistance gene. Within six or seven years the aphids evolved to overcome that resistance,” Dr Edwards says.

His research involves genomic sequencing of the salivary glands of the aphids, in an attempt to map how they evolve to secrete new forms of proteins – proteins that wheat plants no longer recognise as precursors to attack. Dr Edwards says the changes in aphid saliva indicates a rate of evolution 50 to 100 times faster than that of other insects.

When aphids attack a resistant plant, the plant detects particular proteins in the aphid saliva and cuts off the flow of sap to that part of the plant. Finding no sap, the aphids leave the plant and fly on to neighbouring plants.

Tasting is the primary mechanism aphids have for identifying their food. If, after several attempts to feed, they are unsuccessful, they can launch themselves into the air currents and can travel hundreds of kilometres in search of a new food source.

In non-resistant plants, the wheat does not recognise the protein and allows Russian wheat aphids to feed without triggering any defence mechanisms. This results in white streaks on the wheat leaves – symptoms similar to drought stress. The leaves also curl, trapping the heads of the plants and making it impossible to harvest the grain.

“Contact insecticides are relatively ineffective because the aphids are inside the curled leaves, where the chemicals can’t reach them,” Dr Edwards says. “It only takes relatively small numbers of these aphids to cause significant damage.”

None of the wheat or barley varieties currently released in Australia have Russian wheat aphid resistance, and rolling out resistant varieties from the US or South Africa would be relatively ineffective if aphids arriving in Australia are those that have already evolved to overcome plant resistance.

“Identifying the mechanisms aphids use to generate new proteins and developing resistance to those proteins at a more fundamental level is the strategy we are pursuing. Once we understand the underlying mechanism, the appropriate resistance can be developed for a range of different aphid species and crops,” Dr Edwards says.

Collaborators in the CRC for National Plant Biosecurity project include CSIRO, the Grains Research and Development Corporation, and Kansas State University in the US. The Chinese Academy of Sciences will also join the research this year.

Instructions for downloading images

To download and save images, right-click on the link and click ‘save target as’. If you experience any problems, please contact Communications Manager, Kate Scott on 0402 299 611 or k.scott@crcplantbiosecurity.com.au

Scientists planting new research ideas in Queensland

K.Scott — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:16:10 +0000

Media Release: 25 September 2009

Australia’s top plant biosecurity scientists gathered on the Sunshine Coast this week to discuss current and future research activities which will help safeguard Australia’s agriculture industries.

The Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity held a ‘Science Exchange’ to bring together researchers, government and plant industry representatives from across the country.

The CRC’s chief executive officer, Dr Simon McKirdy said the meeting was important to facilitate engagement between key plant biosecurity stakeholders.

‘Our science is driven by the national research priority of safeguarding Australia’s agricultural industries and retaining our reputation as an exporter of clean and pest free products,’ said Dr McKirdy.

‘This forum provides an opportunity for researchers to discuss their research and also a platform for industry and government regulators to learn more about the science and how it underpins a strong biosecurity system,’ he said.

Chairman of OrdGuard and grower from Kununurra, Mr Lachlan Dobson said it was encouraging to hear about the innovative research which will provide industry with better tools to manage harmful plant pests and diseases.

‘It’s becoming increasingly more important for farmers to monitor for pests and diseases and implement biosecurity measures. An incursion in a plant crop can cost a grower thousands of dollars to eradicate and a long time to get the crop back to its original health,’ he said.

‘Listening to the scientists today provides me with confidence that the research being conducted will help the agriculture industry better manage potential biosecurity risks,’ said Mr Dobson.

Awards were also presented to research teams who displayed excellence in areas of innovation, collaboration and impact on industry. Queensland led projects were recipients of two awards for their contribution to Australia’s plant biosecurity scientific research.

Dr Gary Kong from Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation won an international collaboration award for leading a project that has developed two online tools which enable plant pests and diseases to be identified remotely and in real time using the internet.

Dr Peter Whittle and his research team from Queensland University of Technology won the impact on industry award for a project which developed a robust surveillance method to monitor the environment for harmful pests and diseases.

CRC70085: Personal Digital Assistants (phase two)

VANMEURSA — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:01:24 +0000

Program

Delivery and Adoption

This project will allow the rapid and efficient use of all surveillance data to maintain and protect the Australian grains market and potentially other agricultural/horticultural industries.

CRC40142: Airport Forensics

VANMEURSA — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:39:31 +0000

Program

Impact Management

Airport Forensics is a joint project with Grains Research and Development Corporation. This project will define the plant pathogen incursion risk posed by people returning from overseas and interstate travel.

Making it Really Simple to stay informed

VANMEURSA — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:35:26 +0000

Everyday there are millions of online authors writing about billions of different topics. It can take hours to trawl through all of this information to ensure you are kept up-to-date with the news you want.

The CRC has implemented two methods for our readers to receive information directly from the CRC as it's published, which saves you continually coming back to check the website for updates. The first method is through emails directly to your inbox and the second is through RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds.

Latest headlines by email

To receive the latest headlines to your inbox, click on ‘News Feeds' on the CRC's homepage and then click on the subscribe button circled below. You will then receive a hyperlink which will ask for your email address. Once you've entered this, you will receive an email to activate your subscription. It's that simple!

RSS feeds

The symbols that represent RSS include:

To access the CRC's RSS feeds you need to set up a ‘news reader.' A news reader will allow you to pull in feeds from multiple sources, as this software monitors the websites you are subscribed to and aggregates all of the feeds to the one place. You may already have a news reader built into your Microsoft Outlook folders which would look like this.

If you do not have an inbuilt news reader you can sign up for or download one. There are many different versions, some of which are accessed using a browser, and some of which are downloadable applications. For a list of RSS readers, check: http://blogspace.com/rss/readers

All you have to do once you have chosen a reader is to add feeds to it. To add the CRC's news feed, click on ‘News Feeds' on the CRC's homepage and then click on the subscribe button circled below.

You will then be taken to a page where you can choose how you want to subscribe.

If, for example you choose to add the feed to your igoogle page, it will look like this:

We hope you find either or both of these a useful tool to keep up-to-date with the CRC's research activities. If you have any questions regarding the CRC's email updates or RSS feeds, please contact our Communications Officer, Andrew Crichton.

CRC30014: PDA-Assisted Surveillance (phase one)

K.Scott — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 06:57:02 +0000

Program

Surveillance

Recently completed project CRC30014 PDA - Assisted Surveillance has made it possible for field collected surveillance information to be captured digitally.