Lab News

Our new paper recently published in Frontiers in Plant Science in collaboration with The Kurouski Lab at Texas A&M University demonstrates how Raman Spectroscopy (RS) can offer a promising solution for early diagnosis of tomato spotted wilt (TSW) disease at the strains level. The disease is caused by tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and novel strains of the virus appear to produce characteristic and distinct symptoms in various tomato cultivars, which RS is capable of detecting. This approach could potentially be used to devise timely disease intervention strategies.

Our work on the transmission biology of novel resistance-breaking (RB) strains of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) was recently published in Frontiers in Microbiology journal. While TSWV RB strains have been reported worldwide (in Texas by our lab earlier this year), this is the first comprehensive study on thrips transmission of these strains. The study demonstrates how vector-imposed selection pressure, besides the one imposed by resistant cultivars, may contribute to the worldwide emergence of RB strains.

We’re delighted that our brand new Nikon microscope is here (finally!). We look forward to capturing some cool bug pics with it.

Our lab reported the emergence of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) resistance-breaking (RB) strains in pepper (access full note here: https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-09-22-2274-PDN) and tomato (https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-11-22-2699-PDN) for the first time in Texas. These strains were capable of disrupting single-gene resistance in all tested TSWV resistant cultivars (eight each) of tomato (Sw-5b gene) and pepper (Tsw gene). They appear to lack all previously reported RB mutations in TSWV proteins and pose a significant threat to tomato and pepper production in Texas. Extensive studies on characterization and transmission of these strains are currently underway.

In collaboration with the Kurouski lab at TAMU, College Station, we published our first-ever lab paper Confirmatory detection and identification of biotic and abiotic stresses in wheat using Raman spectroscopy in Frontiers in Plant Science journal. The paper demonstrates how unique vibrational signatures in the Raman spectra obtained from stressed wheat samples could be used for ~100% accurate identification of biotic (Russian wheat aphid and mite-vectored virus diseases) as well as abiotic (nutrient deficiency and drought) stresses of wheat.