NAIROBI (Reuters Sept 8th 05) - A resilient new strain of wheat fungus from east Africa is threatening to spread to the Middle East, Asia and the Americas and bring catastrophic crop damage, scientists said on Thursday.

Researchers said the new Ug99 form of stem rust could be spread by the wind and attack many varieties of spring and winter wheat that were resistant to other strains of the fungus.

The strain could easily spread from Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia, which were the countries currently affected.
"Recognising the potential that this disease has...there's almost no one exempt," said Ronnie Coffman, head of Cornell University's Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics.
"What we have to achieve is to stop this disease from spreading to other parts of the world. Otherwise we are going to see a catastrophe," said Masa Iwanaga, director general of Mexico's International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre

The scientists gave no firm numbers on potential damage, but said they feared an epidemic similar to those that caused major grain losses in North America in 1903, 1905 and 1950-54 and famine in Asia. All those occurred before the cultivation of wheat varieties that were immune to stem rust, the report said.

***Thoughts
Could be serious, especially in Africa where thousands are starving.
I rem reading about a black fungus that attacked damp wheat? Affecting thousands of people in the Middle Ages, sending them quite mad

So? Building a better wheat is a Caltech summer project in gene-gineering. Lab labor will pay you for the privilege of working. Anybody who doesn't want to eat Franken-wheat thereafter is welcome to starve. The UK will find some way to survive without idiot Prince Charles.

Save the drama for your mama. Get down and [b]push]/b].

Ergot (St. Anthony's Fire) affected rye. The common people went looney from lysergic acid derivatives and suffered peripherhal gangrene (fingers, toes, nose, ears) from ergot alkaloid vascoconstriction. Only sinners were smitten. The One True Church grew wheat and was spared by God.

http://pubs.acs.org/hotartcl/mdd/99/marapr/forged.html

ROTFLMAO!!! Thousands? THOUSANDS? Imagine Detroit without Welfare checks and with a population of 800 million. African birth control is combination of starvation, war, disease, and emigration.

Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.

Rudyard Kipling, 1899.

They made it this far Al, why kill them off now?

Oh I forgot, they would never be able to achieve civilized sustainable birth/death rates and are thus an evolutionary threat.

Who's on the acid?

Demonstrates the risks of our overwhelming (though understandable) reliance on a single crop. Wheat has a wonderful combination of protein, carbs and calories. But the predominance of this crop requires great vigilance.

As a wise man once said, when discussing investment diversification -- "Go ahead and put all your eggs in one basket. Just WATCH THAT BASKET."


On a side note, is this fungus tasty? Perhaps there is a third way...

With regards to ergot, the rye fungus in question, no, it's not delectable. It contains a lot of alkaloids which affect the brain causing LSD-like hallucinations. It also can stimulate uterine contractions and has been used--judiciously--as an aid to childbirth. It can cause constriction of peripheral blood vessels so that appendages fall off with little or no bleeding, spontaneous ergotamine induced amputation. Not a thing to play around with. Ergot sclerotia, the fruiting body of the fungus, on rye appears as a dark brown or black enlarged grain. It produces the most toxins when grown on rye, but it will infect wheat, spelt, einkern, kemmer and kamut with varying results as far as toxicity goes. Its dangers far exceed its medical uses, IMHO. There are safer ways to get your kicks, too.

Amaranth Rose,

I haven't seen much in the news recently on adapting Nitrogen fixation to other species. Any progress there?

Sparky,
I haven't been looking. What I pick up is what hits popular press, and seems to be of little interest to others here, judging by the overwhelming lack of responses.

Try a search for nitrogen fixing, Azotobacter, or Nitrosomonas and see waht you find. Good luck.

hmm
But isn't this fungus the same one that they believe to be the cause of the hallucinations,
death, and general cause of the salem witch trials?

If so it is nothing new.

edit was i left a t off its late here
sorry about gramer 4 in the morning for me
.

Mike,
You're right, of course. The ergot fungus is believed to be the source of the trouble at Salem, Massachusetts in "the old days". Which shows why you should not play with molds and fungi, I guess.