Adam H. Sparks 
My latest preprint with @edelponte is now available, “Climatic fingerprint of the 2023 wheat head blast outbreak and its historical and future analogs in southern South America.”
https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.31220/agriRxiv.2026.00429
Alexander J. Stein#WheatBlast is a devastating #disease caused by a fungal pathogen. Under #climatechange it is predicted to reduce global #wheat production by 69 million tons per year (13% decrease) by mid-century, exacerbating #foodsecurity problems: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01902-2 #grain #yields #fungi
Technische Universität MünchenFor the first time, researchers modeled the #wheatblast spread under #climatechange. The #fungaldisease could reduce global wheat production by 13% until 2050, with dramatic results for global #foodsecurity: http://go.tum.de/301242
📷iStock/M.Belchenko
PLOS Biology.@DrJohannaRhodes explores a #PLOSBiology study of the alarming evolutionary potential of a #pandemic clone of #WheatBlast, arguing the urgent need for genomic surveillance & pre-emptive breeding of resistant wheat. Primer: https://plos.io/3MLuPay Paper: https://plos.io/3zP6Gse
Genomic surveillance urgently needed to control wheat blast pandemic spreading across continents
This Primer explores a new study in PLOS Biology which describes the alarming potential of a pandemic clone of wheat blast disease to evolve fungicide-insensitive variants, arguing the urgent need for genomic surveillance and pre-emptive breeding of resistant wheat.
.@DrJohannaRhodes explores a #PLOSBiology study of the alarming evolutionary potential of a #pandemic clone of #WheatBlast, arguing the urgent need for genomic surveillance & pre-emptive breeding of resistant wheat. Primer: https://plos.io/3MLuPay Paper: https://plos.io/3zP6Gse
Genomic surveillance urgently needed to control wheat blast pandemic spreading across continents
This Primer explores a new study in PLOS Biology which describes the alarming potential of a pandemic clone of wheat blast disease to evolve fungicide-insensitive variants, arguing the urgent need for genomic surveillance and pre-emptive breeding of resistant wheat.
Daniele de Rigo3/
#References-2
[3] Latorre, S.M., Were, V.M., Foster, A.J., et al., 2023. Genomic surveillance uncovers a pandemic clonal lineage of the wheat blast fungus. PLOS Biology 21, e3002052+. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002052
[4] Callaway, E., 2023. Wheat disease’s global spread concerns researchers. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01043-8
#DOI #WheatBlast #PlantPests #AgriculturalResources
Figure 1 from [3] visually summarises the current status of spread https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002052#sec002
Genomic surveillance uncovers a pandemic clonal lineage of the wheat blast fungus
Wheat, the most important food crop, is threatened by a blast disease pandemic. This study uses genome analyses to track the spread of a clonal lineage of the pandemic blast fungus and to reveal its potential to evolve fungicide-insensitive variants and sexually recombine with African lineages.
2/
#References-1
[1] Callaway, E., 2016. Devastating wheat fungus appears in Asia for first time. Nature 532, 421–422. https://doi.org/10.1038/532421a
[2] Islam, M.T., Croll, D., Gladieux, P., et al., 2016. Emergence of wheat blast in Bangladesh was caused by a South American lineage of Magnaporthe oryzae. BMC Biology 14, 84. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-016-0309-7
1/
2016, Bangladesh: "Asia’s first outbreak of a fungal disease that periodically devastates crops in #SouthAmerica" [1]
called "for intensive monitoring and surveillance of the #WheatBlast pathogen to limit its further spread" [2]
2023:
#Wheat "is threatened by a blast disease #pandemic". A wheat blast fungus lineage "recently spread to Asia and #Africa following two independent introductions from South America" [3]: threat for "wheat cultivation in some of the poorest parts of the world" [4]
Johanna Rhodes explores a #PLOSBiology study of the alarming evolutionary potential of a #pandemic clone of #WheatBlast, arguing the urgent need for genomic surveillance & pre-emptive breeding of resistant wheat. Primer: https://plos.io/3MLuPay Paper: https://plos.io/3zP6Gse
Genomic surveillance urgently needed to control wheat blast pandemic spreading across continents
This Primer explores a new study in PLOS Biology which describes the alarming potential of a pandemic clone of wheat blast disease to evolve fungicide-insensitive variants, arguing the urgent need for genomic surveillance and pre-emptive breeding of resistant wheat.