COVID-style gene surveillance to fight wheat fungus

ABSTRACT

See PDF] First reported in Brazil in 1985, wheat blast disease spreads through infected seeds, crop residues and spores that can travel long distances in the air. "Wheat is a staple food for 35 per cent of the world's population, so a disease that threatens pandemic potential could cause serious food security implications,” she told SciDev.Net. "Thanks to the prompt and public release of genomic data by the international scientific community through the OpenWheatBlast initiative, we were able to detect, track, and characterise the fungal lineage responsible for recent wheat blast outbreaks,” said lead author Sergio Latorre Ochoa from University College London.