Millipede species, rarely documented in West Virginia, detected by WVU researchers as part of National Geographic project

Angie Macias, a doctoral student at West Virginia University, and Matt Kasson, an associate professor, are part of a National Geographic-funded project to study the fungal diversity associated with fungus-feeding millipedes.

Food claiming to have ‘wild mushrooms’ rarely does

Harvesting wild mushrooms requires an expert eye, making products containing wild fungi expensive. Due to minimal food regulations, it’s nearly impossible to know what species are actually contained within. Sequencing revealed food products labeled with wild mushrooms mostly contained cultivated fungi and some mushrooms poisonous to humans.

Elevated warming, ozone have detrimental effects on plant roots, promote soil carbon loss

Two factors that play a key role in climate change – increased climate warming and elevated ozone levels – appear to have detrimental effects on soybean plant roots, their relationship with symbiotic microorganisms in the soil and the ways the…

New broadly applicable tool provides insight into fungicide resistance

Succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors (SDHIs) are a class of fungicides widely used to control many fungal diseases of crops. The relationship between SDHIs and fungi can be compared to finding the right key for the right lock. However, fungi are adaptable…

COVID-19 creates conditions for emergence of ‘superfungus’ in Brazil

Fully occupied intensive care units (ICUs). Physically and mentally exhausted health workers. Chaotically overcrowded hospitals. These and similar problems posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil have created ideal conditions for the emergence of Candida auris , a microorganism some…

A new disease called halo blight threatens Michigan hop production

If you’re a beer drinker, you’ve noticed that hoppy beers have become increasingly popular. Most of the nation’s hops come from the Pacific Northwest. However, commercial hop production regions have expanded significantly. In Michigan hop production nearly tripled between 2014…

Host, management, or microbial traits: Which is dominant in plant microbiome assemblage?

We’ve all heard the news stories of how what you eat can affect your microbiome. Changing your diet can shift your unique microbial fingerprint. This shift can cause a dramatic effect on your health. But what about the microbiome of…

New discoveries on deadly fungus – might be a key for treatment

Aspergillus fumigatus kills as many people as malaria and tuberculosis, but is less known. It is found “everywhere”, for example in the soil or in our compost, but is not normally dangerous to healthy people. Those who die from it…

Scientists study co-evolutionary relationship between rust fungi and wheat and barberry

Wheat stripe rust is one of the most important wheat diseases and is caused by the plant-pathogenic fungi Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici ( Pst ). Though Pst is known to be highly host-specific, it is interestingly able to infect…

Scientists found in marine mold substance that antidotes paraquat

Biologically active compounds from the marine fungus Penicillium dimorphosporum protect cells from paraquat, the highly toxic herbicide with no remedy, and might enhance the action of some drugs. The fungus was isolated from soft coral collected in the South China…

New eco-friendly technique protects rice plants against devastating fungal infection

Researchers have developed a new technique to protect rice seeds against fungal infections that can ruin up to half of all rice crops in the world. The biocontrol method, which involves inoculation of flowers with a different fungus that doesn’t…

APS launches new outreach service, Grow: Plant Health Exchange

The American Phytopathological Society (APS) is pleased to introduce Grow: Plant Health Exchange , an online, science-based resource for plant health management professionals and practitioners to exchange knowledge and discover the latest applied research. All the content is freely accessible…

2020 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award winners named

Six entries featuring notable explanatory and investigative reporting on the global COVID-19 pandemic are among the winners of the 2020 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards. Ed Yong, a staff writer for The Atlantic, won for in-depth reporting on the likely…

Model for acid-tolerant yeast helps guide industrial organic acid production

Microbes and other microscopic organisms could serve as sustainable “factories” to create many types of industrial materials because they naturally convert nutrients such as sugars into byproducts. However, creating industrial amounts of organic acids from renewable resources poses a challenge,…