Food For Thought

Plants can become infected by a range of different bacterial, viral and fungal pathogens, which can cause significant yield losses and even plant death. In this talk, we will discuss some of the organisms that cause plant diseases and explain how they are spread between plants. We will then explore some of the molecular techniques that are being developed to aid the early and accurate identification of the causal agents and how this can help with the implementation of effective disease management strategies.

Originally Australian, now at home in the UK, I’m fascinated by the amazing ways plants adapt to changing conditions, particularly how roots form, grow and change structure in response to soil signals. New technologies are making it easier for us to uncover these responses in an otherwise hidden world; but to understand responses, we need to know what the roots are responding to – we need a roots-eye-view! I will talk about our latest use of medical research equipment to see what roots see and how this will help future crop production.

One of the biggest problems in sheep farming is lameness, mostly caused by bacterial infections, such as foot rot, a common and painful disease. Infections of the sheep foot are complex. In addition to the bacterium that causes the disease, bacteria that live on the skin, in the soil or in faecal material that sheep walk through, may contribute. We will discuss bacterial populations on healthy compared to bacteria on foot rot affected feet. We will show how we recreate a ‘sheep foot in a Petri dish’ to be able to study the complex aspects of this disease in a controlled laboratory environment.