INVITATION TO A PUBLIC LECTURE by Dr. Joel L. Vanneste: "Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae, three years after its discovery in New Zealand: what have we learned about the pathogen, the disease and how to control it?" on 26th of September 2013, at Biological Centre in Ljubljana

National Institute of Biology kindly invites you to attend the lecture about the disease, which was confirmed in Slovenia for the first time this year:

" Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae, three years after its discovery in New Zealand: what have we learned about the pathogen, the disease and how to control it?" by Joel L. Vanneste from the New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Ltd

The lecture will take place on Thursday, the 26th of September 2013, at 13:00 p.m. in the Lecture Hall B5 of the Biological Centre, Večna pot 111, Ljubljana.

Abstract:

In the last few years the causal agent of bacterial canker of kiwifruit, Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa), has become a global pathogen of economic importance. Before 2008, this little known pathogen had not been the object of many studies outside Japan and Korea where it had been first isolated. Since the beginning of the global outbreak, a large number of laboratories first in Italy, then in New Zealand and now in several European countries are working on Psa, generating a huge amount of data. Most of the projects aimed at better understanding the pathogen and finding ways to control the disease. Five years after the beginning of the global outbreak and three years after its discovery in New Zealand we can already confirm or infirm some of the assumptions on the life cycle made in the early days of the outbreak. Furthermore, although few new tools have been found to control Psa; we now understand better how to reduce the incidence of this disease. In this talk the progress made in understanding the pathogen (its life cycle, epidemiology, phylogenetic origin etc) and in controlling this disease will be reviewed.

Kindly invited