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NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.

2023

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Abstract

Key words: VKM, pest risk analysis, Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food and Environment, Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Sudden oak death, Phytophthora ramorum Introduction The Norwegian Food Safety Authority has asked the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food and Environment for an updated pest risk assessment of Phytophthora ramorum in Norway. The previous risk assessment of P. ramorum for Norway is from 2009. Since then, the pathogen has been detected repeatedly in Norway, primarily in parks, garden centres, and nurseries in southwestern Norway. The knowledge base concerning P. ramorum has changed since the last pest risk assessment, with increased genetic knowledge about different populations, lineages, and mating types. The risks associated with P. ramorum have also changed, since the disease has become epidemic in new host plants, such as larch trees in England. This updated pest risk assessment will provide important input to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s efforts to develop the Norwegian plant health regulation. Methods VKM established a project group with expertise in plant health, forest pathology, horticultural plant pathology, plant disease modelling, and pest risk assessment. The group conducted systematic literature searches and scrutinized the relevant literature. In the absence of Norwegian studies, VKM relied on literature from other countries. The group did a quantitative risk assessment describing the level of confidence in the conclusions and identifying uncertainties and data gaps. The report underwent pre-submission commenting and external expert reviewing before final approval and publication. Results and conclusions Phytophthora ramorum is present in the PRA area but has a restricted distribution, mainly being detected in the southern and southwestern parts of Norway. The only P. ramorum lineage considered to be present in Norway is EU1 with mating type A1. The other lineage in Europe, EU2, has so far mainly been documented from the UK. The most widely distributed multilocus genotype of P. ramorum in Norway is EU1MLG1, which became dominant in Europe (including Norway) after 2008. In North America, the NA1, NA2, and EU1 lineages are known from both nurseries and forests. NA1 and NA2 are of the opposite mating type (A2) than European lineages. Recently, various other lineages of P. ramorum have been described from Asia. The main risks for future problems with P. ramorum in Norway are related to entry and establishment of non-European isolates (of all lineages), as well as emergence of new genotypes in European P. ramorum populations. There are several options for diagnosing P. ramorum to species and lineage (mainly EU1, EU2, NA1, and NA2). From a management perspective it is more important to distinguish these entities than mating type and isolate groups (genotypes). The latter are mainly relevant for research purposes or in cases of unexpected disease developments, such as new hosts, increased spread or more severe symptoms on known hosts. However, for more detailed regulation, monitoring, and management of P. ramorum it could also be useful to test for genotypes, i.e. to distinguish EU1MLG1 from other genotypes. Rhododendron remains the most important host plant for P. ramorum in Norway, both in terms of imported plants and detections (mainly in nurseries, garden centres, and public parks). Species in other ornamental plant genera, such as Viburnum, Pieris, and Kalmia, are also listed as major hosts in Europe, and P. ramorum has been detected at least once on species in all these genera in Norway. In the US, Rhododendron, Viburnum, Pieris, Syringa, and Camellia are considered to be the main ornamental hosts. .....................

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Abstract

Non-native pests, climate change, and their interactions are likely to alter relationships between trees and tree-associated organisms with consequences for forest health. To understand and predict such changes, factors structuring tree-associated communities need to be determined. Here, we analysed the data consisting of records of insects and fungi collected from dormant twigs from 155 tree species at 51 botanical gardens or arboreta in 32 countries. Generalized dissimilarity models revealed similar relative importance of studied climatic, host-related and geographic factors on differences in tree-associated communities. Mean annual temperature, phylogenetic distance between hosts and geographic distance between locations were the major drivers of dissimilarities. The increasing importance of high temperatures on differences in studied communities indicate that climate change could affect tree-associated organisms directly and indirectly through host range shifts. Insect and fungal communities were more similar between closely related vs. distant hosts suggesting that host range shifts may facilitate the emergence of new pests. Moreover, dissimilarities among tree-associated communities increased with geographic distance indicating that human-mediated transport may serve as a pathway of the introductions of new pests. The results of this study highlight the need to limit the establishment of tree pests and increase the resilience of forest ecosystems to changes in climate.

Abstract

Phytophthora cactorum has two distinct pathotypes that cause crown rot and leather rot in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa). Strains of the crown rot pathotype can infect both the rhizome (crown) and fruit tissues, while strains of the leather rot pathotype can only infect the fruits of strawberry. The genome of a highly virulent crown rot strain, a low virulent crown rot strain, and three leather rot strains were sequenced using PacBio high fidelity (HiFi) long read sequencing. The reads were de novo assembled to 66.4–67.6 megabases genomes in 178–204 contigs, with N50 values ranging from 892 to 1,036 kilobases. The total number of predicted complete genes in the five P. cactorum genomes ranged from 17,286 to 17,398. Orthology analysis identified a core secretome of 8,238 genes. Comparative genomic analysis revealed differences in the composition of potential virulence effectors, such as putative RxLR and Crinklers, between the crown rot and the leather rot pathotypes. Insertions, deletions, and amino acid substitutions were detected in genes encoding putative elicitors such as beta elicitin and cellulose-binding domain proteins from the leather rot strains compared to the highly virulent crown rot strain, suggesting a potential mechanism for the crown rot strain to escape host recognition during compatible interaction with strawberry. The results presented here highlight several effectors that may facilitate the tissue-specific colonization of P. cactorum in strawberry.

2022

Abstract

The populations of European ash and its harmless fungal associate Hymenoscyphus albidus are in decline owing to ash dieback caused by the invasive Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, a fungus that in its native range in Asia is a harmless leaf endophyte of local ash species. To clarify the behavior of H. albidus and its spatial and temporal niche overlap with the invasive relative, we used light microscopy, fungal species-specific qPCR assays, and PacBio long-read amplicon sequencing of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region to examine fungal growth and species composition in attached leaves of European ash. The plant material was collected from a healthy stand in central Norway, where ash saplings in late autumn showed leaflet vein necrosis like that commonly related to H. fraxineus. For reference, leaflet samples were analyzed from stands with epidemic level of ash dieback in southeastern Norway and Estonia. While H. albidus was predominant in the necrotic veins in the healthy stand, H. fraxineus was predominant in the diseased stands. Otherwise, endophytes with pathogenic potential in the genera Venturia (anamorph Fusicladium), Mycosphaerella (anamorph Ramularia), and Phoma, and basidiomycetous yeasts formed the core leaflet mycobiome both in the healthy and diseased stands. In necrotic leaf areas with high levels of either H. albidus or H. fraxineus DNA, one common feature was the high colonization of sclerenchyma and phloem, a region from which the ascomata of both species arise. Our data suggest that H. albidus can induce necrosis in ash leaves, but that owing to low infection pressure, this first takes place in tissues weakened by autumn senescence, 1–2 months later in the season than what is characteristic of H. fraxineus at an epidemic phase of ash dieback. The most striking difference between these fungi would appear to be the high fecundity of H. fraxineus. The adaptation to a host that is phylogenetically closely related to European ash, a tree species with high occurrence frequency in Europe, and the presence of environmental conditions favorable to H. fraxineus life cycle completion in most years may enable the build-up of high infection pressure and challenge of leaf defense prior to autumn senescence.