News by Subject Biology

Australian wine scientists are shedding scientific light on the processes underlying traditional practices of Australian Aboriginal people to produce fermented beverages. The scientists from the University of Adelaide and the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) have discovered the complex microbial communities associated with the natural fermentation of sap from the iconic Tasmanian cider gum, Eucalyptus gunnii.

Recently, Mirian Pimentel, a PhD student, and a group of plant pathologists at Southern Illinois University, discovered a promising new tool to fight sudden death syndrome (SDS). They observed that several biological control agents (BCA), or beneficial fungi, were able to substantially reduce the growth of the causal pathogen agent of SDS. In some cases, these agents even overgrew the pathogen, parasitized it, and displayed evidence of "feeding" on it.

Plants in the Balanophora genus have very small fruits and very little is known about their seed dispersal strategy. Associate Professor Suetsugu Kenji (Kobe University Graduate School of Science) illuminates a previously unrecognized seed dispersal mutualism between Balanophora yakushimensis and birds, which are attracted by and obtain nutrients from its fleshy bracts.

Fusarium wilt is a nasty but common disease affecting economically important crops such as banana, cotton, flax, canola, melons, onions, potato and tomato. The release of the complete genome sequence is a milestone in comparative genomics studies of fungal parasites; it contributes to the global efforts aimed at elimination of plant disease outbreaks by aiding in engineering of new resistant crops varieties.

A team of scientists, led by CABI's Dr Matthew Ryan, have outlined a series of challenges and opportunities presented in a necessary review of how microbiomes - biological communities including bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae, protists and viruses - can be 'banked' and preserved for generations to come.

The system that regulates cellular calcium levels duplicated, generating two non-equivalent systems, some one billion years ago before fungi and animals diverged evolutionarily. The fungal models currently used for the study of mitochondrial calcium regulation are not adequate, as the system they possess is not equivalent to that of animals. Chytrids, a divergent group of fungi, would be the only fungi that possess a system similar to ours.