In celebration of the 150th Anniversary of Iowa State University the department had a tent on central campus for VEISHEA on April 21. The event was well attended and everything went perfectly, the weather was beautiful except for a few wind disturbances that caused a little havoc with the displays in the tent. Included in the tent was a display for the newly integrated Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic, the time line of Plant Pathology, Severity Pro computer program, Asian Soybean Rust, and a fun children’s game that we called “Plant Disease Pitch”.

The experiment started with a giant pickle jar. "We put several maize leaves in a jar, introduced a phenol gas and let it sit for a while. We tested the air in the jar and the phenol was all gone. There was none left," said Gwyn Beattie, professor of plant pathology.

That was good news. Phenol is a gas that causes the foul odors found in automobile exhaust, cigarette smoke, decomposing manure and emissions from burning wood, coal and municipal waste.

3/13/2007

Contacts:
Barbara McBreen, Iowa State University, Communications Service, (515) 294-0707
Caleb Hunter, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, (515) 281-8606
David Wright, Iowa Soybean Association, (515) 250-1495
Editor’s note: Photos of soybean rust on soybean plants are available by calling Barbara McBreen

ASIAN SOYBEAN RUST CONFIRMED ON SOYBEAN PLANT TISSUE SUBMITTED TO IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

All organisms, including plants, respond to stresses by altering their gene expression. While much gene expression is controlled at the level of transcription (messenger RNA synthesis from DNA), post-transcriptional control is emerging as a major level of gene expression control, particularly in response to stresses such as pathogen attack. Post-transcriptional control includes alternative splicing of messenger RNAs (mRNAs), targeted degradation of mRNAs by small silencer or micro RNAs (siRNAs and miRNAs), and translation of mRNAs (protein synthesis).

Welcome to Andrew Firth and Betty Chung who are visiting Allen Miller’s lab from the last week of January until April. Both are New Zealanders currently doing research in the Recoding Laboratory of John Atkins, University College Cork in Ireland.

AMES, Iowa -- Researchers at three universities, including Iowa State University, have designed a new way to make plants resistant to the root-knot nematode, a microscopic, parasitic worm that is one of the world’s most destructive plant pathogens.

In a decade-long collaboration, Thomas Baum, professor and chair of the Department of Plant Pathology at Iowa State, worked with lead investigators Richard Hussey and Guozhong Huang of the University of Georgia and Eric Davis of North Carolina State University to study nematode parasitism genes and how the gene products affect plants.

Results of the research were published today (Sept. 26) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Aphids are notorious for spreading viruses in plants. By understanding how these pests transmit specific viruses, researchers at Iowa State University think they’ve found a way to make plants aphid-resistant.

“Aphids are the mosquitoes of the plant world and transmit most viruses,” says W. Allen Miller, a professor of plant pathology at Iowa State University. “A certain family of viruses known as luteoviruses actually accumulate in the aphid’s blood stream and are transported through the aphid’s saliva every time they feed on plants.”

AMES, Iowa -- An internationally recognized seed pathologist has been named Seed Science Endowed Chair at Iowa State University. Gary Munkvold has been appointed to the newly created chair for a three-year term. Munkvold will lead a research, outreach and teaching program in seed health in the department of plant pathology and the Seed Science Center.

"We are completing our second crop season since Asian soybean rust(ASR) was found in the United States. We can breathe a sigh of relief and give thanks that ASR did not make its way to Iowa. Indeed, this potentially devastating disease has not plagued the entire north-central United States. Had conditions been favorable for this disease, we were ready to give producers fair warning. The USDA and North Central Soybean Research Project funded the establishment of sentinel plots in Iowa and across the midwestern and southeastern United States. ... We are sincerely grateful to those who assisted in putting out Iowa's 21 sentinel plots [including 11 at ISU research farms and 10 at farmer or agribusiness sites].