The origin of a deadly wheat pathogen which threatens a vital global food source has been identified by an international team of academic researchers including two professors from the University of the Free State in South Africa.
The origin of a deadly wheat pathogen which threatens a vital global food source has been identified by an international team of academic researchers including two professors from the University of the Free State in South Africa.
First identified in Africa two decades ago, the strain of the stem rust fungus, ‘Ug99,’ was said to threaten the global wheat supply due to its ability to attack most varieties planted across the world. Rust diseases cause substantial crop losses each year. It was first detected in Uganda in 1998 and described in 1999 and has since given rise to an asexual lineage that has spread through Africa to the Middle East causing devastating damage to wheat crops.
Professor Zakkie Pretorius and Professor Botma Visser, researchers from the Department of Plant Sciences, University of the Free State in South Africa, joined forces with the University of Minnesota; the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO); and Australian National University, to uncover the basis of the stem rust fungus strain Ug99’s virulence by examining the pathogen’s genome.
See full article at Agropages
