Matthew H. Laurence

Royal Botanic Gardens · Plant pathology

The oomycete genus Phytophthora includes plant pathogens that pose significant threats to agricultural systems, natural ecosystems and urban forests. Urban forests are increasingly recognized for their role in mitigating climate change impacts and urban greening initiatives are underway worldwide. However, research suggests that the urban forest is...

Ambrosia beetles have co-evolved symbiotic relationships with an array of fungal partners. Mutualistic fungal partners are often highly successful in vertical transmission between beetle generations. These persisting relationships can alter beetle behaviour, resulting in the opportunity to occupy new ecological niches and to spread geographically....

As part of the International Plant Sentinel Network program monitoring high priority plant species from the United Kingdom, soil samples were collected from an asymptomatic Quercus robur (English Oak) at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah (NSW). The soil samples were baited for Phytophthora with detection based on a Phytophthora genus s...

Early detection of exotic pests is key to a timely response for enabling options for eradication and future management. It is widely recognised that engaging the public and industry in general surveillance significantly increases the chance of detecting newly arrived pests and pathogens. Once a new pest or pathogen is detected, Australia has guidel...

Seed fungal endophytes play an important beneficial role in the formation of the seedling mycobiome and contribute to plant establishment but can also occur as latent pathogens and saprotrophs. Current knowledge on the function and diversity of seed fungal endophytes has been gained through studies in agricultural systems whilst knowledge from natu...

A distinct black leafspot with fungal growth was found on Platanus orientalis ‘Digitata’ (cut-leaf oriental plane tree) in northern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in February 2019. Morphological characteristics, internal transcribed spacer sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the associated fungus identified it as Pseudocercospora platanige...

Sulfur is an essential element for all living organisms and is the basis for primary productivity in some exotic communities. It exists in a number of oxidation states as inorganic and organic compounds that undergo a number of biotic and abiotic transformations. These transformations can be beneficial or detrimental to ecosystems depending on the...

Ascochyta koolunga (Didymellaceae, Pleosporales) was first described in 2009 (as Phoma koolunga ) and identified as the causal agent of Ascochyta blight of Pisum sativum (field pea) in South Australia. Since then A. koolunga has not been reported anywhere else in the world, and its origins and occurrence on other legume (Fabaceae) species remains u...

Scientific communication is facilitated by a data-driven, scientifically sound taxonomy that considers the end-user's needs and established successful practice. Previously (Geiser et al. 2013; Phytopathology 103:400-408. 2013), the Fusarium community voiced near unanimous support for a concept of Fusarium that represented a clade comprising all agr...

Kosciuszko National Park is the largest protected area in NSW and the only reserve in the State containing alpine vegetation. Diseases and pests of plants in the park are poorly known and, until recently, were thought to be benign and rare because of the cold climate. Surveys after the 2003 fi re that burnt about 70% of the park detected dieback in...

The isolation of Fusarium fujikuroi from rice plants with elongated stems typical of bakanae disease in the Lao PDR is reported for the first time. The identification was based on both molecular and morphological markers. Koch’s postulates were fulfilled. Bakanae disease has long been recognized in the Lao PDR based on symptomatology, but the etiol...

Mango malformation (MMD) is an economically significant disease of mango growing regions and a notifiable disease in Australia. Following an incursion of the disease in the Northern Territory (NT) in 2007, numerous Fusarium species were isolated from mango samples during surveillance activities in growing regions within the country between 2007 and...

Fusarium solani is responsible for leaf yellowing and root and collar rot across a broad range of orchid species. The forma specialis, ‘phalaenopsis’, of Fusarium solani has recently been described using molecular methods as being the causal organism of disease in Phalaenopsis and Cymbidium orchids, and is the predominant pathogen of Taiwanese glas...

Fusarium goolgardi, isolated from the grass tree Xanthorrhoea glauca in natural ecosystems of Australia, is closely related to fusaria that produce a subgroup of trichothecene (type A) mycotoxins that lack a carbonyl group at carbon atom 8 (C-8). Mass spectrometric analysis revealed that F. goolgardi isolates produce type A trichothecenes, but exhi...

The Fusarium oxysporum species complex (FOSC) causes disease in plants and animals, but is also widely dispersed in natural ecosystems without evidence of disease. The present study screened a representative population from natural ecosystems across the Australian continent for the putative effector genes Pisatin Demethylase 1 (PDA1), Pectate Lyase...

Six new species of Fusarium associated with soil and plant hosts from ecosystems of minimal anthropogenic disturbance in Australia are described. Fusarium coicis from Coix gasteenii, F. goolgardi from Xanthorrhoea glauca, F. mundagurra from soil and Mangifera indica, F. newnesense from soil, F. tjaetaba from Sorghum interjectum and F. tjaynera from...

Phytophthora multivora, a recently described species recovered from declining natural ecosystems in Western Australia, was detected in the natural site of the rare and endangered Wollemi pine in New South Wales. The Phytophthora species was identified based on morphology and sequence analysis of the rDNA ITS and mitochondrial DNA cox1 regions. A pa...

Fusarium wilt is a serious disease of the date palm Phoenix canariensis, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. canariensis (Foc). A previous study that characterised and compared the genetic diversity of the Australian Foc population with international strains suggested that the Australian population may have had an independent evolutionary origin. T...

Vanilla stem rot, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. vanillae (Fov), is the main constraint to increasing global vanilla production,including Indonesia. The current study investigated the origin of Fov in Indonesia using a multi-gene phylogenetic approach. Nineteen Fov isolates were selected to represent Indonesia, the Comoros, Mexico and Réunion I...

Many fungi are pathogenic on plants and cause significant damage in agriculture and forestry. They are also part of the natural ecosystem and may play a role in regulating plant numbers/density. Morphological identification and analysis of plant pathogenic fungi, while important, is often hampered by the scarcity of discriminatory taxonomic charact...

Many fungi are pathogenic on plants and cause significant damage in agriculture and forestry. They are also part of the natural ecosystem and may play a role in regulating plant numbers/density. Morphological identification and analysis of plant pathogenic fungi, while important, is often hampered by the scarcity of discriminatory taxonomic charact...

Fusarium oxysporum is an important plant and human pathogenic ascomycetous group, with near ubiquity in agricultural and non-cultivated ecosystems. Phylogenetic evidence suggests that F. oxysporum is a complex of multiple morphologically cryptic species. Species boundaries and limits of genetic exchange within this complex are poorly defined, large...

Fusarium wilt of Phoenix canariensis, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. canariensis, is a lethal disease which has been reported in Argentina, Australia, the Canary Islands, France, Greece, Italy, Japan and the USA. The Australian F. oxysporum f.sp. canariensis strains have previously been shown to be highly diverse and did not cluster with intern...

The Fusarium oxysporum species complex (FOSC) is a ubiquitous ascomycetous group that includes both pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains, the former being responsible for disease in over 100 cultivated plant species. Previous phylogenetic studies have uncovered at least four major clades within the FOSC, with Clade 1 hypothesised as being ancestra...

A new species of Fusarium associated with Australian soils in non-cultivated ecosystems is described as Fusarium burgessii on the basis of morphological and phylogenetic data. Isolates recovered from biogeographical surveys over 26years were selected for morphological examination. Two distinct morphotypes with morphological affinities to the Fusari...

Fusarium is a large, complex genus that causes a wide variety of plant diseases, produces a number of mycotoxins and is becoming increasingly recognized as a significant human pathogen. These fungi occur in ecosystems in all parts of the globe, which makes them useful as a model to better understand biogeographic processes affecting the distributio...

Two new species of Fusarium associated with Australian indigenous grasses in natural ecosystems are described as F. lyarnte and F. werrikimbe on the basis of morphology, DNA fingerprinting and phylogenetic analysis of EF-1α and β-tubulin sequence data. Isolates of these species were initially recovered from soil in the McGraths Creek area of centra...

Fusarium species associated with plants as pathogens, saprobes and endophytes in Australia are listed with notes on their pathogenicity and toxicity provided. A list of Fusarium species not known to occur in Australia also is provided and their quarantine significance evaluated. KeywordsFusarium–Biosecurity–Quarantine–Plant disease–Mycotoxins–Aust...