Publications
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.
2009
Abstract
The root-rot causing fungus Heterobasidion annosum senso lato is the most devastating pathogen of conifers in Europe. This pathogen enter Norway spruce trees trough the roots and colonizes the tree from within, growing as a saprophyte when established within the dead heartwood and acting as a necrotroph when in contact with living host tissue. The genome of this devastating pathogen has now been sequenced in collaboration with JGI and gene annotation is ongoing and genomic work is currently in progress (Stenlid et al. work in progress). We have worked with the host Norway spruce from a molecular perspective for more than ten years. Twenty percent of the trees in Norwegian spruce stands tend to be infected and this pathogen that can colonize ten meters up inside the trunk. The tree have defences against this pathogen and the attack can be fought off by the bark and living wood but not by the hearthwood. The tree has a unique defense against this internal attack by forming a reaction zone; in this case the host defense is directed inwardly by the still living sapwood toward the central colonized wood. We have in the last years studied the host responses to infection in Norway spruce clones at the transcriptional level and found that the speed of recognition and spatial defense signalling appears to be the hallmarks of trees with high degree of resistance. We strive to study both partners in this pathosystem from a molecular perspective, and are using suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) followed by Real-Time RT PCR verification to look at differentially expressed genes(Yakovlev et al. 2008). In addition the colonization profiles are followed on extracted gDNA using quantitative Real-Time PCR (Hietala et al. 2009).
2008
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
The difficulty in subculturing biotrophic fungi complicates etiological studies related to the associated plant diseases. By employing internal transcribed spacer rDNA-targeted quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, we now show that the heteroecious rust Thekopsora areolata, commonly associated in natural conditions to sapling shoots and cones of Norway spruce and leaves of wild bird cherry, frequently infects nurserygrown seedlings of the conifer. A spatial sampling scheme was used to investigate seedlings and saplings of Norway spruce showing phloem necrosis: the highest concentration of DNA of T. areolata was recorded in the area with necrotic phloem. The separate analysis of bark and wood tissues suggested that the initial spread of the rust to healthy tissues neighboring the infection site takes place in the bark. A Phomopsis species found to coexist with T. areolata in several seedlings showed very high DNA levels in the upper part of the lesion, and even in the visually healthy proximal tissues above the lesions, which indicates that the ascomycete, most probably a secondary invader following primary infection by T. areolata, has a latent stage during early host colonization. We hypothesize that this hemibiotrophic mode of infection contributes to the successful coexistence of Phomopsis with a biotrophic rust.
Authors
Nicola La Porta Paolo Capretti Iben Margarethe Thomsen Risto Kasanen Ari M. Hietala Kim von WeissenbergAbstract
Most atmospheric scientists agree that climate changes are going to increase the mean temperature in Europe with increased frequency of climatic extremes, such as drought, floods, and storms. Under such conditions, there is high probability that forests will be subject to increased frequency and intensity of stress due to climatic extremes. Therefore, impacts of climate change on forest health should be carefully evaluated...
Abstract
The area of wood protection is in a period of change. New wood protection systems have been developed while their mode of action remains insufficiently understood. The development of molecular methods provides potential tools to investigate the interaction between modified wood and decay fungi. One small step to tackle some of the unsolved questions about the mode of action of modified wood is taken in this study. A specific and quantitative real-time PCR (QRT-PCR) assay was now established for identifying and quantifying early stages of fungal colonisation in modified wood and for profiling growth dynamics of the white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor through different stages of decay. QRT-PCR of colonisation of three different wood modification systems (acetylation, furfurylation, thermal modification), two reference treatments (Cu-HDO, CCA) and Scots pine sapwood as control was performed. Incubation time was 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks...
Abstract
The root-rot causing fungus Heterobasidion annosum sensu lato is the most devastating pathogen of conifers in Europe. This pathogen enters Norway spruce through the roots and can colonize the tree from within, growing as a saprophyte when established within the dead heartwood and acting as a necrotroph when in contact with living host tissue. Despite the high incidence of damage, trees have defences against this pathogen in the bark and living wood. Furthermore, spruce has a defense against internal attack by forming a reaction zone, in this case the host defense is directed inwardly by the still living sapwood toward the central colonized heartwood. We have studied the host responses to infection in Norway spruce clones at the transcriptional level and found that the speed of recognition and that spatial defense signalling appears to be the hallmarks of trees with high degree of resistance...
2007
Abstract
The area of wood protection is in a period of change. New tools are needed to understand the mode of action, and to further improve the new wood protection systems. A set of useful tools are found among the molecular methods. This paper presents an overview of some of the tools available, and the methods are exemplified by papers within the frame of wood protection issues. However, there is still a great unexplored potential within the field of wood protection by the use of various molecular methods. The majority of the work using molecular methods has been performed on species identification issues and within species variation. This paper lists some new promising molecular methods for wood protection issues and a presentation of a new project. The new project will help to gain some new knowledge about how the fungal decay processes are affected by different wood modification systems.
Authors
Karlsson Magnus Ari Hietala Harald Kvaalen Halvor Solheim Åke Olson Jan Stenlid Carl Gunnar FossdalAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
In spring 2002, extensive damage was recorded in southeast Norway on nursery-grown Norway spruce seedlings that had either wintered in nursery cold storage or had been planted out in autumn 2001. The damage was characterised by a top shoot dieback. Two visually distinct types of necroses were located either on the upper or lower part of the 2001-year-shoot. Isolations from the upper stem necroses rendered Gremmeniella abietina, while Phomopsis sp. was isolated mostly from the from the lower stem necroses. RAMS (random amplified microsatellites) profiling indicated that the G. abietina strains associated with diseased nursery seedlings belonged to LTT (large-tree type) ecotype, and inoculation tests confirmed their pathogenicity on Norway spruce seedlings. Phomopsis sp. was not pathogenic in inoculation tests, this implying it may be a secondary colonizer. We describe here the Gremmeniella - associated shoot dieback symptoms on Norway spruce seedlings and conclude that the unusual disease outburst was related to the Gremmeniella epidemic caused by the LTT type on large pines in 2001. The role of Phomopsis sp. in the tissue of diseased Norway spruce seedlings is yet unclear.
Abstract
The root-rot causing fungus Heterobasidion annosum senso lato is the most devastating pathogen of conifers in Europe. This pathogen enter Norway spruce trees trough the roots and colonizes the tree from within, growing as a saprophyte when established within the dead heartwood and acting as a necrotroph when in contact with living host tissue. Twenty percent of the trees in Norwegian spruce stands tend to be infected and this pathogen that can colonize ten meters up inside the tree trunk, decaying the silvicultural most valuable part of the tree. Despite this high incidence of damage the tree has efficient defences against this pathogen and the attack is eventually fought off if present in the bark or living wood. The tree also has a defense against this internal attack (by Heterobasidion established in the heartwood expanding and invading outward toward the living sapwood) by forming a reaction zone; in this case the host defense is directed inwardly by the still living sapwood toward the central colonized wood. We have in the last years studied the host responses to infection in Norway spruce clones at the transcriptional level and found that the speed of recognition and that spatial defense signalling appears to be the hallmarks of trees with high degree of resistance. We strive to study both partners in this pathosystem from a molecular perspective, and are now focusing on the pathogen and what fungal gene-products are being expressed during the colonization of the heartwood compared to those expressed close to the active host defense (reaction zone) using suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) followed by Real-Time RT PCR analysis. In addition the colonization profiles were followed on extracted gDNA using quantitative Real-Time PCR.