News

This article in Nature highlights the value of integrative datasets for robust species delimitation and provides a framework for future studies on population structure, evolutionary dynamics, and diagnostic marker development within the Meloidogyne genus.

This article, published in CABI Agriculture and Bioscience, explores the challenges involved in making regulatory decisions based on HTS data.

This article, published in Microbiology Spectrum, explores the recent emergence of Vascular streak dieback (VSD) on woody ornamentals in the United States. The study reveals how metagenomics using long-read sequencing can overcome the challenges involved with the absence of pure cultures when dealing with fastidious fungal pathogens.

Published in Biology, this article details the development of a simple detection system that can quickly tell apart four important thrips species that attack crops in southern China; including one globally invasive species; the western flower thrips.

This study examined official border inspections from several countries to understand how often and where Cenopalpus mites are being transported, highlighting the importance of continued surveillance and accurate identification of mites in plant trade to support plant biosecurity and prevent the establishment of new pests.

This study in the Journal of Economic Entomology provides 2 major advances that strengthen molecular diagnostics for Liriomyza pest species of biosecurity concern in Australia.

Published article in Viruses journal characterising viral populations associated with cassava in Kenya. In this study, cassava samples obtained from major cassava growing regions in Kenya were analyzed by Illumina sequencing. Results identified the most abundant viruses and characterized their genome-wide variation, identified genetically stable and hypervariable areas, establishing the foundation to develop improved diagnostic tests, and have wider implications for breeding virus-resistant cassava.

This study establishes a practical framework for CRISPR-Cas13a diagnostics in plant pathology and provides a low-infrastructure strategy that could improve the speed and accuracy of fire blight surveillance and broader agricultural biosecurity efforts.