Monica Gerth

3 weeks ago | elifesciences.org | Nicolas Desprat |Monica Gerth |Barbara Ritzl-Rinkenberger |Andrew Farr

eLife Assessment This important study combines convincing evolution experiments with molecular and genetic techniques to study how a genetic lesion in MreB that causes rod-shaped cells to become spherical, with concomitant deleterious fitness effects, can be rescued by natural selection. The detailed mechanistic investigation increases our understanding of how mreB contributes to cell wall synthesis and shows how compensatory mutations may reestablish its homogeneity.

Dec 1, 2024 | biorxiv.org | Hannah Robinson |Jade Palmer |Monica Gerth

AbstractPhytophthora agathidicida, a plant pathogenic oomycete, causes fatal dieback disease in New Zealand kauri trees (Agathis australis). Currently, few treatments exist to prevent or cure this infection. Previous research has demonstrated the potent in vitro inhibition of multiple lifecycle stages of P. agathidicida by the oomycide oxathiapiprolin. In this study, we have evaluated the efficacy of oxathiapiprolin in planta as either a protective or curative treatment.