Sudden oak death caused by pathogens Phytophthora ramorumis one of the most ecologically destructive forest diseases in North America, causing the death of millions of oak and tanoak trees along the coast.
Will science be saved? Following the success of genetically modified organisms in insulin, food, etc., recent trends include: genetic structure organism. These GROs will use science to create natural resistance, like a vaccine for plants, and reduce the impact of greater fire risks due to altered species composition, released carbon pools, and mortality.
Before that happens, scientists need to better understand the basic biology of: Phytophthora ramorumThis includes how well spores form on regular plants.
Image by RegalShave from Pixabay.
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, undertook the following study: To investigate the spore-forming potential of this pathogen on common California plant species.. They collected leaves from 13 common plant hosts in the Big Sur region and inoculated them with the causative pathogen. They found that although most species produced spores, there was a range, with laurel and tanoak producing significantly more sporangia than other species. They also observed an inconsistent relationship between sporulation and lesion size, indicating that visual symptoms are not a reliable measure of sporulation potential.
“Our study is the first to examine the sporulation ability of a wide range of California coastal native plant species, with a sample size large enough to statistically distinguish between species,” said first author Dr. Lisa Rosenthal. ”he explained. Previous observational field studies have reported that tanoak and laurel are the main causes of sudden oak death infections, but indicate that many other hosts can also produce spores.”
Citation: Lisa M. Rosenthal, Sebastian N. Fajardo, David M. Rizzo, Spore formation potential Phytophthora ramorum It is different from typical California plant species in the Big Sur region.Plant Diseases August 17, 2021 https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-03-20-0485-RE
