Research Publications

25 July 2022

Is provenance or phylogeny a better predictor of growth and survival of a soil pathogen in leaf litter?

Exotic plants have the potential to increase pathogen inoculum that can affect native plants. New Zealand’s iconic kauri tree (Agathis australis) is threatened by disease caused by Phytophthora agathidicida, which is…
Research Publications

27 May 2022

Effector loss drives adaptation of Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae biovar 3 to Actinidia arguta

Clonally propagated monoculture crop plants facilitate the emergence and spread of new diseases. Plant pathogens cause disease by the secretion of effectors that function by repressing the host defense response….
Research Publications

29 April 2022

A network perspective for sustainable agroecosystems

Highlights Nature-based management uses biodiversity and targeted biotic introductions to improve sustainable agroecosystem production, but results have been variable. A network perspective can drive research to improve the future design…
Research Publications

14 March 2022

A mobile restriction–modification system provides phage defence and resolves an epigenetic conflict with an antagonistic endonuclease

Epigenetic DNA methylation plays an important role in bacteria by influencing gene expression and allowing discrimination between self-DNA and intruders such as phages and plasmids. Restriction–modification (RM) systems use a…
Research Publications

10 January 2022

High viral abundance and low diversity are associated with increased CRISPR-Cas prevalence across microbial ecosystems

Meaden and Biswas et al. use metagenomic data to test associations between CRISPR-Cas abundance and viral abundance and diversity across environments. There is a positive association between CRISPR-Cas abundance and…