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Research Highlights02 / 06

The next great tree epidemics could strike the Southern Hemisphere

Diseases such as chestnut blight and Dutch elm disease changed northern forests for good. Treena Burgess and Mike Wingfield warn that the south is losing the isolation that kept it safe, and set out how to act before the next outbreak.

Paper: Unveiling a hidden menace: Invasive tree pathogens, less known but increasingly threatening Southern hemisphere forests

Research Highlights03 / 06

How Europe's fly agaric mushroom settled in South Africa, chemistry and all

The red and white fly agaric arrived in South Africa with forestry. By reading the genomes of 24 mushrooms, an international team including FABI researchers traced it to Europe and found its chemical toolkit unchanged, including compounds that kill tiny roundworms.

Paper: Equipped for success: Genomes and metabolites of the European Amanita muscaria are conserved in its novel South African range

Research Highlights04 / 06

Smallholder farmers’ knowledge, perception and management of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on Zea mays at irrigation schemes in Limpopo province, South Africa

The fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) was first detected in Limpopo province, South Africa, during the 2016/2017 cropping season and continues to cause significant damage to maize production in the region. Despite the significant damage caused by S. frugiperda to maize,…

Research Highlights05 / 06

Mouldy crops, hidden poisons: why mycotoxins still threaten our food

Poisons made by moulds on crops cause cancer, sicken livestock and trigger food recalls. FABI's Neriman Yilmaz and colleagues explain why the problem persists, how climate change is shifting it, and what can be done.

Paper: Mycotoxins: An ongoing challenge to food safety and security

Research Highlights06 / 06

A latent invader: transcriptomics reveals Cercospora zeina’s stealth infection strategy of maize and immune-activating effectors

Cercospora zeina is a fungal pathogen that causes gray leaf spot (GLS) disease on maize (Zea mays L.). Upon landing on a leaf, the pathogen enters through the stomata and continues to develop asymptomatically for up to 28 days before symptoms appear. As previous work has yet to…