https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. New models developed by University of Georgia researchers may help guide the fight against rust disease, according to a new study. The paper is published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-hazard-rust-disease-loblolly-trees.html Ecology Thu, 26 Sep 2024 14:56:04 EDT news646581362 The recent discovery of the Ug99 wheat stem rust strain in Nepal, published in the Plant Disease journal, has once again emphasized the need for vigilance to protect Nepal's third most important food crop from any large-scale outbreaks of this devastating wheat disease. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-rapid-diagnostics-tool-deployed-wheat.html Molecular & Computational biology Agriculture Fri, 13 Sep 2024 15:32:35 EDT news645460351 A recent study looking at the molecular foundation of myrtle rust reveals how the pathogen breaks into a host plant and how the host plant responds. This insight will inform the design of useful tools to prevent future break-ins and safeguard plant health. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-reveal-myrtle-rust-pathogen-host.html Molecular & Computational biology Agriculture Fri, 05 Jul 2024 12:19:03 EDT news639400742 Every weekend, thousands of citizen scientists head into the great outdoors. If they see an unusual animal, plant or fungi, they take a photo and upload it. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-myrtle-rust-lethal-australian-citizen.html Ecology Agriculture Tue, 02 Apr 2024 13:30:03 EDT news631283401 Around a decade ago, an invasive fungal disease called myrtle rust reached Australia and began to spread like a plague through certain plants. The disease affects plants of the Myrtaceae family, which includes eucalypts, paperbarks and lilly pillies, and makes up 10% of Australian plant biodiversity. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-myrtle-rust-devastating-australian-forests.html Ecology Biotechnology Fri, 15 Dec 2023 11:16:03 EST news621861361 Dr. Miyaji Naomi, who is currently a researcher at Iwate Biotechnology Research Center) and Arjina Akter, who is a Ph.D. student in the same doctorate program with their colleagues, elucidated that the alterations to gene expression induced after infection of Japanese mustard spinach by white rust disease were different in disease-resistant cultivar and disease-susceptible cultivar. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-discovery-differences-gene-white-rust.html Molecular & Computational biology Agriculture Fri, 25 Aug 2023 12:08:10 EDT news612184088 New research using remote sensing technology has delivered promising results to scientists looking for innovative ways to help nurseries combat the spread of myrtle rust. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-remote-technology-combat-myrtle-rust.html Plants & Animals Biotechnology Tue, 16 May 2023 14:22:30 EDT news603465746 Some 70% of the World Heritage-listed Lord Howe Island has been closed to non-essential visitors in response to a recurrence of the plant disease myrtle rust. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-myrtle-rust-disease-lord-howe.html Ecology Agriculture Mon, 20 Mar 2023 13:30:04 EDT news598537801 Mobile phone batteries with a lifetime up to three times longer than today's technology could be a reality thanks to an innovation led by engineers at RMIT University. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-recyclable-mobile-batteries-closer-rust-busting.html Nanomaterials Tue, 24 Jan 2023 15:53:03 EST news593797981 A new study has analyzed the potential of a bacterium for biological control of the fungus Hemileia vastatrix, which causes coffee rust, a major challenge for Brazilian coffee growers. An article on the study is published in the journal BMC Microbiology. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-bacterium-combating-coffee-rust.html Cell & Microbiology Agriculture Tue, 20 Dec 2022 17:04:03 EST news590778241 Farmers now have a new biocontrol tool to help fight one of Australia's most challenging agricultural weeds, flaxleaf fleabane, which causes grain crop revenue losses of more than $43 million each year. Researchers from Australia's national science agency, CSIRO, are piloting the release of a fungus from Columbia to help farmers tackle the weed. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-fungus-australian-farmers-fast-spreading-weed.html Ecology Agriculture Wed, 24 Aug 2022 17:11:55 EDT news580579908 Texas A&M AgriLife researchers discovered they can predict corn southern rust epidemic outbreaks by utilizing unmanned aerial systems, UAS, or drones, early enough to help prevent economic damage for growers. https://phys.org/news/2022-06-drone-early-identification-southern-rust.html Biotechnology Agriculture Wed, 01 Jun 2022 10:11:18 EDT news573297074 Researchers have identified stem rust resistance in the wild cereal plant Aegilops sharonensis and successfully transferred the resistance gene into bread wheat. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-genetic-options-scientists-rust-resistance.html Biotechnology Agriculture Mon, 09 May 2022 10:10:02 EDT news571307801 Pests and diseases result in the loss of one-fifth of the global wheat harvest each year, which is enough to make around 290 billion loaves of bread. Resolving the persistent problem of the fungal rust diseases that attack wheat could help ensure future food security. https://phys.org/news/2022-03-rust-resistance-bread-wheat.html Plants & Animals Agriculture Mon, 14 Mar 2022 12:08:29 EDT news566478506 Researchers have shed light on a long-standing mystery concerning how fungal spores are released and dispersed. https://phys.org/news/2021-10-unravelling-fungal-spore-mechanics.html Molecular & Computational biology Agriculture Fri, 22 Oct 2021 11:17:52 EDT news554120268 A water-absorbent coat to keep rust away? It may seem counterintuitive but when it comes to soybean plants and rust disease, researchers from Japan have discovered that applying a coating that makes leaf surfaces water absorbent helps to protect against infection. https://phys.org/news/2021-09-anti-rust-coating-disease-cellulose-nanofiber.html Biotechnology Agriculture Tue, 07 Sep 2021 08:35:00 EDT news550222497 Leaf rust caused by Puccinia triticina Eriks. (Pt) is a destructive foliar disease that threatens world wheat production. Breeding and deployment of resistant cultivars are the most profitable and environmental friendly method to prevent disease losses. It was found that when the wheat leaf rust resistance gene Lr13 was introduced into some wheat varieties by hybridization, the hybrid necrosis was often caused in F1 plants. Complementary wheat genes Necrosis 1 (Ne1) and Necrosis 2 (Ne2) on chromosome arms 5BL and 2BS, respectively, cause hybrid necrosis. Ne2 shows extremely tight genetic linkage with leaf rust resistance gene Lr13. However, the function and relationship of Lr13/Ne2 remained unknown for decades. https://phys.org/news/2021-05-wheat-hybrid-necrosis-gene-ne2.html Molecular & Computational biology Agriculture Fri, 21 May 2021 07:32:25 EDT news540801143 Stem rust is a devastating disease of cereal crops, including barley, one of the first domesticated crops in agriculture and the fourth most widely grown crop in the world. Barley is unique because it is one of only a few crops that can be cultivated in almost any climate and across a range of elevations, making it economically and nutritionally important. https://phys.org/news/2021-04-wild-barley-jordan-key-stem.html Plants & Animals Biotechnology Agriculture Wed, 07 Apr 2021 10:33:26 EDT news537010403 Wheat stripe rust is one of the most important wheat diseases and is caused by the plant-pathogenic fungi Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst). Though Pst is known to be highly host-specific, it is interestingly able to infect two unrelated host plants, wheat and barberry, at different spore stages. Pst infects wheat through its urediniospores and infects barberry with its basidiospores. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-scientists-co-evolutionary-relationship-rust-fungi.html Biotechnology Thu, 18 Mar 2021 15:28:42 EDT news535300119 A new genomic tool has been launched to help the global community of wheat rust researchers. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-genomic-tool-wheat-rust-worldwide.html Plants & Animals Biotechnology Wed, 10 Mar 2021 07:49:16 EST news534584950 Researchers have found a gene in wheat that acts to promote rust fungal infection. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-achilles-heel-wheat-rust-infection.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 11 Feb 2021 08:29:25 EST news532254562 Coffee rust is a parasitic fungus and a big problem for coffee growers around the world. A study in the birthplace of coffee—Ethiopia—shows that another fungus seems to have the capacity to supress the rust outbreaks in this landscape. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-fungus-coffee-farmers.html Plants & Animals Biotechnology Wed, 03 Feb 2021 14:31:59 EST news531585117 A new study of wheat rust—a fungal disease that can harm wheat crops—identifies previously unknown long-term trends and hotspots for wheat rust outbreaks in Ethiopia. A team of modelers from the University of Cambridge and the Universität Hamburg, along with surveillance experts from CIMMYT, EIAR and agricultural universities in Ethiopia, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on February 3. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-year-analysis-wheat-crop-disease.html Ecology Biotechnology Wed, 03 Feb 2021 14:00:08 EST news531557707 Stem rust is one of the most devastating fungal diseases of wheat and historically has caused dramatic, widespread crop failures resulting in significant yield losses around the world. Stem rust epidemics in major wheat growing areas could cause a major threat to global food security. Scientists have identified a resistance gene, Sr22, as one of the few characterized genes that protects against a large array of stem rust races. https://phys.org/news/2020-12-large-scale-expansion-stem-rust-resistance.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 07 Dec 2020 16:44:46 EST news526581876 Stripe rust is one of the most destructive wheat diseases in the world, especially in the United States. While the disease can be controlled by chemicals, those may be harmful to humans, animals, and the environment and the application can cost millions of dollars to wheat production. Rather than use chemicals, many farmers would prefer to grow wheat varieties that resist stripe rust and the development of such varieties is a top priority for wheat breeding programs. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-wheat-varieties-resist-destructive-stripe.html Plants & Animals Thu, 17 Sep 2020 14:21:59 EDT news519571307 The native guava is one of the first Australian plants to be pushed to the brink of extinction by a fungal plant disease which has spread rapidly across the globe, according to a new study by scientists from the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-native-guava-australian-casualty-global.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 13 May 2020 09:29:42 EDT news508580976 CABI scientists, as part of an international team of researchers, have discovered a new biological control in the fight against the highly noxious and invasive weed parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus) in Pakistan. https://phys.org/news/2020-03-scientists-biological-noxious-parthenium-weed.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 04 Mar 2020 09:10:05 EST news502535399 When water flows deep underground, it often dissolves inorganic substances from mineral deposits in the earth's crust. In many regions, these deposits contain arsenic, a naturally occurring element that is colorless, tasteless and odorless. Although its presence is barely noticeable, prolonged exposure to arsenic-contaminated water can lead to gangrene, disease and many types of cancer, resulting in major loss of income for millions of people and even death. https://phys.org/news/2020-01-rust-cheap-filter-arsenic-poisoned.html Materials Science Fri, 31 Jan 2020 09:42:05 EST news499686121 While conducting fieldwork in Puerto Rico's central mountainous region in 2016, University of Michigan ecologists noticed tiny trails of bright orange snail excrement on the undersurface of coffee leaves afflicted with coffee leaf rust, the crop's most economically important pest. https://phys.org/news/2020-01-tiny-invasive-snail-latin-american.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 23 Jan 2020 10:45:40 EST news498998734 Genes have been identified that confer resistance to multiple leaf rust species in barley. The findings by an international team, led by KAUST researchers, could transform the breeding of durable disease-resistant cereal crops and help support efforts to improve global food security. https://phys.org/news/2019-12-conferring-leaf-rust-resistance-cereal.html Plants & Animals Biotechnology Thu, 05 Dec 2019 10:42:37 EST news494764954