Location: Mycology and Nematology Genetic Diversity and Biology Laboratory
2022 Annual Report
Accomplishments
1. Historic specimens were cataloged. Approximately 130,000 historic specimens bound together in specimen books were photographed and inventoried. Many of these specimens serve as references for names of important disease-causing fungi. Accurate names and information are essential for the control of fungal diseases and prevention of entry of invasive fungi into the U.S. The potential economic impacts of misidentification or unknown geographic distributions exceed $10 billion per year to importers and exporters. Plant disease diagnosticians, plant pathologists, and plant quarantine officials will use this information to accurately identify and manage plant disease outbreaks.
2. Over $200 billion in trade was facilitated with the fungal databases. Knowledge of the plant host associations and geographic distributions of plant pathogenic fungi is critical to controlling the spread of plant diseases. ARS scientists in Beltsville, Maryland, accessioned over 12,000 world-wide records of fungus-host distributions from peer-reviewed literature into the U.S. National Fungus Collections Fungal Databases. These data are used daily by quarantine officials to accurately track plant pathogenic fungi and prevent their entry into or the further spread in the U.S. while maintaining the approximately $110 billion and $130 billion agricultural import and export markets, respectively.
Review Publications
Davis, W.J., Crouch, J.A. 2022. Validation of Peronospora species names. Mycotaxon. 136(4):785-788. https://doi.org/10.5248/136.785.
Rahnama, M., Szarka, D., Li, H., Dixon, E., Castlebury, L.A., Gauthier, N. 2021. Reemergence of Septoria leaf spot caused by Septoria cannabis on hemp in Kentucky, confirmed by sequence data. Plant Disease. 105:2286-2289. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-12-20-2620-SC.