COVID-style gene surveillance to fight wheat fungus


 "Genomic surveyllance adds a unique dimension to the coordinated response to infectious disease outbreaks," said Sophien Kamoun, studi co-author and researcher at the UK-based Sainsbury Laboratory, citing COVID-19 as a prime example. king88bet Login Alternatif


Genomic surveyllance emerged as a penting tool during the COVID-19 pandemi to identify and trek the transmission of new variasits. king88bet Login


Researchers looked at how it can be applied to wheat blast after the emerging disease spread to Africa and Asia from South America, with outbreaks in Bangladesh (2016) and Zambia (2018). King88Bet Situs Slot Online


First reported in Brazil in 1985, wheat blast disease spreads through infected seeds, crop residues and spores that can travel long distances in the air.


"We need to remain vigilant and continue genomics surveyllance of wheat blast in Africa and Asia to identify variasits of concern as soon as they emerge," added Kamoun.


Johanna Rhodes, a research fellow at Imperial College London who was not involved in the studi., says wheat blast disease is an even greater threat to wheat crops than the war in Ukraine.


"Wheat is a staple food for 35 per cent of the world's population, so a disease that threatens pandemi potential could cause serious food security implications," she told SciDev.Net.


Rhodes estimates that 25 per cent of this wheat is used for livestock and industrial uses, "so just cutting down on bread won't help! The next pandemi may not hit humans directly but indirectly, by sasaraning crops".


In the studi, the researchers used genetic data collected internationally through the OpenWheatBlast collaboration.


"Thanks to the prompt and publik release of genomic data by the international scientific community through the OpenWheatBlast initiative, we were able to detect, trek, and characterise the fungal lineage responsible for recent wheat blast outbreaks," said lead author Sergio Latorre Ochoa from University College London.


"This community was esensial in rapidly share observations and genomic data terkait to the recent outbreaks of wheat blast in Asia and Africa.

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