Charcoal canker (Biscogniauxia mediterranea) in cork oak decline in Portugal

Doutoramento em Engenharia Florestal e dos Recursos Naturais - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaCharcoal canker is a disease caused by Biscogniauxia mediterranea that affects Quercus suber and other hardwood species. The fungus develops endophytically in the hosts becoming pathogenic under stress conditions. However, it has become more frequent, particularly in young trees expressing atypical symptoms. This work intends to clarify the agent involved in these disease outbreaks and its variability in different situations, as well as dispersion in natural conditions. The fungal anamorph was identified as Nodulisporium sp. in young hosts. In the stands, ascospores airborne dispersal is predominant, occurring after precipitation periods, and vertical contamination of plants doesn’t happen. A collection of isolates obtained from cork oak in Portugal and other Mediterranean countries, from other hosts and from trees with different ages and disease expression were analyzed by microsatellite-primed PCR, multigene sequencing, morpho-cultural characteristics and growth rates at different temperatures. All the approaches revealed high level of intraspecific polymorphism among isolates, not allowing relating the disease development with any considered feature. The results highlighted the variability and adaptation ability of this fungus in special in the Mediterranea region, in the present worrying scenario of climatic change. All the conditions are gathered to favor the aggravation of the disease in cork oak stand

SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal was rapidly implemented by the National Institute of Health in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, in collaboration with more than 50 laboratories distributed nationwide. Methods By applying recent phylodynamic models that allow integration of individual-based travel history, we reconstructed and characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of SARSCoV-2 introductions and early dissemination in Portugal. Results We detected at least 277 independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions, mostly from European countries (namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland), which were consistent with the countries with the highest connectivity with Portugal. Although most introductions were estimated to have occurred during early March 2020, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 was silently circulating in Portugal throughout February, before the first cases were confirmed. Conclusions Here we conclude that the earlier implementation of measures could have minimized the number of introductions and subsequent virus expansion in Portugal. This study lays the foundation for genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal, and highlights the need for systematic and geographically-representative genomic surveillance.We gratefully acknowledge to Sara Hill and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford) and Joshua Quick and Nick Loman (University of Birmingham) for kindly providing us with the initial sets of Artic Network primers for NGS; Rafael Mamede (MRamirez team, IMM, Lisbon) for developing and sharing a bioinformatics script for sequence curation (https://github.com/rfm-targa/BioinfUtils); Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven) for providing guidance on the implementation of the phylodynamic models; Joshua L. Cherry (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) for providing guidance with the subsampling strategies; and all authors, originating and submitting laboratories who have contributed genome data on GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) on which part of this research is based. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government. This study is co-funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica (234_596874175) on behalf of the Research 4 COVID-19 call. Some infrastructural resources used in this study come from the GenomePT project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), Algarve Portugal Regional Operational Programme (CRESC Algarve2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fungos associados a Platypus cylindrus Fab. (Coleoptera: platypodidae) e sua relação com o declínio do sobreiro em Portugal

O inseto Platypus cylindrus Fab. estabelece simbioses com fungos que inocula em galerias que constrói em sobreiro. A partir do inseto e das galerias isolaram-se fungos dos géneros Acremonium, Aspergillus, Beauveria, Botrjytis, Chaetomium, Fusarium, Geotrichum, Gliocadíum, Nodulisporium, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Raƒƒaelea, Scytalidium, Trichoderma, ordem Mucorales e o actinomiceta Streptomyces, alguns identificados pela primeira vez nesta interação. O género Raƒƒaelea compreende fungos ambrósia, incluindo uma espécie patogénica para quercíneas. Deste género identificaram-se R. ambrosiae, R. montetyi e R. canadensis, esta última pela primeira vez associada ao inseto e referida em Portugal. Verificou-se ainda o transporte de Nodulisporium sp., responsável pelo “carvão” do entrecasco do sobreiro. Demonstrou-se o envolvimento dos fungos na alimentação dos incestos, degradação de madeira, gestão de colónias nas galerias e enfraquecimento do hospedeiro. O conhecimento das estratégias de colonização do sobreiro é muito importante para o desenvolvimento de métodos de controlo para esta praga. /ABSTRACT - The incect Platypus cylindrus Fab. Establishes symbioses with fungi that inoculates in galleries excavated in cork oak. Fungal genera Acremonium, Aspergillus, Beauveria, Botrytis, Chaetomium, Fusarium, Geotrichum, Gliocadium, Nodulisporium, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Raƒƒaelea, Scytalidium, Trichoderma, order Mucorales and the actinomicete genus Szreptomyces, were isolated from insect and galleries. Some of these were found for the first time in this interaction_ Raƒƒelea spp. includes ambrosia fungi and a pathogenic species to a Quercus sp... R. ambrosiae, R. montetyi and R. Canadensis were identified, the latter reported for the first time associated with the insect and in Portugal. The transport of Nodulisporium sp., the cause of cork oak charcoal disease, was confirmed. Fungal involvement in insect feeding, Wood degradation, colony management in the galleries and host weakness processes was also demonstrated. The knowledge of insect settling strategies on cork oak is very important for the development of control measures for this pest

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved