Home • Armillaria luteobubalina HWK02 v1.0
Photo of Armillaria luteobubalina HWK02 v1.0
Armillaria luteobubalina HWK02 growing as a pure culture. [Image credit: Jonathan M. Plett]
Photo of Armillaria luteobubalina HWK02 v1.0
Armillaria luteobubalina hyphal rhizomorphs in a natural setting. [Image credit: Angus Carnegie]
Photo of Armillaria luteobubalina HWK02 v1.0
Armillaria luteobubalina fruiting bodies found at the base of an infected tree. [Image credit: Angus Carnegie]

The fungal genus of Armillaria is found parasitizing the wood and roots of economically important trees worldwide.  Past genomic efforts into understanding the biology of this genus have focused on those species widely distributed in temperate Northern hemisphere forests (i.e. Armillaria ostoyae, A. mellea and A. gallica).  Armillaria, however, are also extremely damaging to warmer climate eucalypt bio-energy plantations where the species Armillaria luteobubalina has the strongest pathogenicity and can infect healthy eucalypts at all ages. While direct Armillaria-induced mortality is infrequent, A. luteobubalina infection incidence and impact are commonly aggravated by other concurrent stressors such as beetle attack, drought and hotter climate. With the projected changes in climate over the coming century, eucalypts are expected to become more susceptible to Armillaria root disease.  Therefore, the genome of A. luteobubalina will enable a better understanding of the molecular events associated with its disease progression and the factors that contribute toward Armillaria disease resistance in eucalypts.  Further, as Armillaria are also responsible for break-down of recalcitrant forest litter, an improved understanding of Armillaria biology will also add to our modelling of the carbon cycle within environments.  The end goal of this sequencing project, and the studies pursed there-in, will be to improve the effectiveness of Armillaria disease diagnosis and control as well as increase our understanding of how some pathogenic fungi contribute to nutrient cycling in forest soils.

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