Effector-mediated partial and nonhost disease resistance in wheat

Plants are considered to have three major forms of resistance against pathogen infection. The first is ‘non host resistance’, which operates broadly at the species level, meaning all members of a plant species generally resist all members of the would-be pathogen species. The other two systems operate at the ‘host’ level. ‘Qualitative host resistance’ is seen when an individual plant cultivar (or genotype)completely resists attempted attack by an individual pathogen strain, whilst ‘partial resistance’ is when a plant cannot completely defend itself. Each of these systems have some underlying molecular principles which will be outlined later. In this issue of New Phytologist, Meile et al.(2023; pp. 1562–1577) describe a novel mechanism by which both partial and non host resistance can be achieved in wheat facing the fungal pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici and its closely related species

Previous bottlenecks and future solutions to dissecting the Zymoseptoria tritici -wheat host-pathogen interaction

AbstractZymoseptoria tritici (previously Mycosphaerella graminicola, teleomorph, Septoria tritici, anamorph) causes Septoria tritici blotch, one of the most economically important diseases of wheat (Triticum aestivum). The host pathogenic interaction, as currently understood, is intriguing, and may distinguish Z. tritici from many of the current models for plant pathogenic fungi. Many important questions remain which require a deeper understanding including; the nature and biological significance of the characteristic long latent periods of symptomless plant infection; how/why the fungus then effectively transitions from this to cause disease and reproduce? Elements of this transition currently resemble a putative “hijack” on plant defence but how is Z. tritici able to do this without any form of plant cell penetration? This commentary provides a summary of the recent history of research into the host-pathogen interaction, whilst highlighting some of the challenges going forwards, which will be faced by improved technologies and a growing research community

The role of Accelerometry in the Conservation of two Coastal Marine Vertebrates

This thesis advances the understanding of the spatial and behavioural ecology of two endangered species, basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) at their coastal foraging sites while highlighting the pragmatic application of biologging technology in informing conservation. Chapter 1 of this thesis is a general introduction to tracking technologies, covering how the advancements of biologging have revolutionised the field of ecology, with an emphasis on how accelerometers can be used in conservation. Chapters 2 explores the use of accelerometers on three basking sharks in the western Scottish Isles to understand their fine-scale behaviour. I present early evidence of potential behavioural lateralisation, and the first direct records of 67 breaches over 41 days, with sharks breaching on average twice a day, both during night and day and increasing energy expenditure by at least 30 times to breach. While the function of breaching remains unclear, owing to its energetic cost, breaching is likely to have an important fitness function. In Chapter 3, accelerometers were deployed on 16 juvenile green turtles in The Bahamas to investigate the behavioural and energetic costs of translocation. Turtles rehomed in as little as 15 hours following translocation of 4 km and allocated twice as much time to energetically demanding behaviours compared to resident turtles at their foraging grounds, highlighting that translocation is not a suitable conservation practice for sea turtles. Chapter 4 summarises both data chapters and discusses how their findings provide further evidence of how tracking technologies can be ideal tools for conservation practitioners by monitoring animal movement, behaviour and health as well as assisting with the designation of protected areas by identifying important life history events. Chapter 4 concludes on the challenges and limitations of the thesis as well as the future directions in the use of tracking technologies in conservation ecology

Ingot Hard Red Spring Wheat

This bulletin provides a brief overview of Ingot Hard Red Spring Wheat. Information regarding its origin, disease resistance, and other traits is provided

Oxen Hard Red Spring Wheat

This bulletin provides a brief overview of Oxen Hard Red Spring Wheat. Information regarding its origin, disease resistance, and other traits is provided

The impact of brand value on brand competitiveness

The role of brand value in driving brand competitiveness has recently received attention from marketing scholars like Winzar et al. (2018). From the perspectives of marketing and strategic orientation, we propose and test a framework that depicts the effects of these variables on brand competitiveness. Development of the framework was achieved by synthesising existing research from the marketing and management streams. A convenience sample of 374 retailers who worked with the brand as its business customers completed a survey questionnaire. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed to test the proposed model. We found that brand value, created for business customers, indirectly enhances brand competitiveness through marketing orientation, albeit not directly. Moreover, brand differentiation directly and positively influences brand competitiveness in addition to building brand value. Our study is one of the initial attempts to explore the capability of brand value to bring together market orientation and strategic orientation for brand competitiveness and also extend the periphery of current knowledge about the variables that drive the competitiveness of a brand