This practically-oriented book provides both the theoretical background and step-by-step protocols for methods employing new technologies for the detection of plant pathogenic fungi. Methods have recently been developed which can be undertaken on a wide scale, with large numbers of samples, and which are simple to use, highly sensitive and very specific. Hybridoma and DNA technologies provide the basis of such assays and include the use of monoclonal antibodies, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA hybridization. The book is based on papers presented at a conference held in Oxford in March 1993, under the BRIDGE-COST-88 program developed by the Commission of the European Communities. A wide range of fungi, which are pathogens of a variety of crop and ornamental plants, is covered and the book is aimed at postgraduate students and research workers in mycology and plant pathology, including those involved in routine testing of plants for quarantine or other purposes

This book brings together the knowledge from and tools for genetic and genomic research into oomycetes to help solve the problems this pathogen poses to crops and animals. Armed with the information presented here, researchers can use oomycete data to solve practical problems and gain insight into future areas of interest. Key Features: Offers an up-to-date coverage of research into oomycetes – which has advanced with biochemical and molecular analyses in recent years Helps researchers use oomycete data to solve practical problems, like damage to crop and animal resources Includes a section on interactions with animal hosts Offers perspective on future areas of research Assembles an international author base

This substantially updated edition now in full colour provides key techniques used when working with fungal and fungal-like plant pathogens. As a practical manual it also deals with disease recognition, detection and identification of fungi, plus methods to characterise and curate fungi and handle them under quarantine and quality assurance systems. Fungal Plant Pathogens: Applied Techniques, 2nd edition provides a valuable guide to investigating fungal plant diseases and interpreting laboratory findings for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students, extension plant pathologists, consultants and advisers in agriculture, forestry and horticulture, and the food supply chain.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book provides a fresh, updated and science-based perspective on the current status and prospects of the diverse array of topics related to the potato, and was written by distinguished scientists with hands-on global experience in research aspects related to potato. The potato is the third most important global food crop in terms of consumption. Being the only vegetatively propagated species among the world’s main five staple crops creates both issues and opportunities for the potato: on the one hand, this constrains the speed of its geographic expansion and its options for international commercialization and distribution when compared with commodity crops such as maize, wheat or rice. On the other, it provides an effective insulation against speculation and unforeseen spikes in commodity prices, since the potato does not represent a good traded on global markets. These two factors highlight the underappreciated and underrated role of the potato as a dependable nutrition security crop, one that can mitigate turmoil in world food supply and demand and political instability in some developing countries. Increasingly, the global role of the potato has expanded from a profitable crop in developing countries to a crop providing income and nutrition security in developing ones. This book will appeal to academics and students of crop sciences, but also policy makers and other stakeholders involved in the potato and its contribution to humankind’s food security.

Fungi enjoy great popularity in pharmaceutical, agricultural, and biotechnological applications. Recent advances in the decipherment of whole fungal genomes promise an acceleration of these trends. This timely book links scientists from different parts of the world who are interested in the molecular identification of fungi combined with the exploration of the fungal biodiversity in different ecosystems. It provides a compendium for scientists who rely on a rapid and reliable detection of fungal specimens in environmental as well as clinical resources in order to ensure the benefit of industrial and clinical applications. Chapters focus on the opportunities and limits of the molecular marker-mediated identification of fungi. Various methods, procedures and strategies are outlined. Furthermore, the book offers an update of the current progress in the development of fungal molecular techniques, and draws attention to potential and associated problems, as well as integrating theory and practice.

This book offers a collection of information on successive steps of molecular 'dialogue' between plants and pathogens. It additionally presents data that reflects intrinsic logic of plant-parasite interactions. New findings discussed include: host and non-host resistance, specific and nonspecific elicitors, elicitors and suppressors, and plant and animal immunity. This book enables the reader to understand how to promote or prevent disease development, and allows them to systematize their own ideas of plant-pathogen interactions.* Offers a more extensive scope of the problem as compared to other books in the market* Presents data to allow consideration of host-parasite relationships in dynamics and reveals interrelations between pathogenicity and resistance factors* Discusses beneficial plant-microbe interactions and practical aspects of molecular investigations of plant-parasite relationships* Compares historical study of common and specific features of plant immunity with animal immunity

Fungi are ubiquitous in the world and responsible for driving the evolution and governing the sustainability of ecosystems now and in the past. Fossil Fungi is the first encyclopedic book devoted exclusively to fossil fungi and their activities through geologic time. The book begins with the historical context of research on fossil fungi (paleomycology), followed by how fungi are formed and studied as fossils, and their age. The next six chapters focus on the major lineages of fungi, arranging them in phylogenetic order and placing the fossils within a systematic framework. For each fossil the age and provenance are provided. Each chapter provides a detailed introduction to the living members of the group and a discussion of the fossils that are believed to belong in this group. The extensive bibliography (~ 2700 entries) includes papers on both extant and fossil fungi. Additional chapters include lichens, fungal spores, and the interactions of fungi with plants, animals, and the geosphere. The final chapter includes a discussion of fossil bacteria and other organisms that are fungal-like in appearance, and known from the fossil record. The book includes more than 475 illustrations, almost all in color, of fossil fungi, line drawings, and portraits of people, as well as a glossary of more than 700 mycological and paleontological terms that will be useful to both biologists and geoscientists. - First book devoted to the whole spectrum of the fossil record of fungi, ranging from Proterozoic fossils to the role of fungi in rock weathering - Detailed discussion of how fossil fungi are preserved and studied - Extensive bibliography with more than 2000 entries - Where possible, fungal fossils are placed in a modern systematic context - Each chapter within the systematic treatment of fungal lineages introduced with an easy-to-understand presentation of the main characters that define extant members - Extensive glossary of more than 700 entries that define both biological, geological, and mycological terminology

Published in a modern, user-friendly format this fully revised and updated edition of The Handbook of Protoctista (1990) is the resource for those interested in the biology, diversity and evolution of eukaryotic microorganisms and their descendants, exclusive of animals, plants and fungi. With chapters written by leading researchers in the field, the content reflects the present state of knowledge of the cell and genome biology, evolutionary relationships and ecological/medical/economic importance each major group of protists, organized according to current protist systematics as informed by molecular phylogenetics and genomics.

This new edition of The Fungi provides a comprehensive introduction to the importance of fungi in the natural world and in practical applications, from a microbiological perspective.