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February 2020
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Fifth newsletter to stakeholders

Twelve months already

The last twelve months have been very productive for Euphresco. The research topics proposed in 2019 by members (see below) have attracted unprecedented interest from organizations outside the network, which translates in shared efforts (25% of the budget allocated to the 2019 projects comes from non-members), cross-fertilization of knowledge and ideas, harmonization and adoption of outputs. The important participation of industry in projects such as the validation of diagnostic tests for Tomato brown rugose fruit virus demonstrates that there is awareness of the benefit of working together on shared problems.

Euphresco as a successful platform for international collaboration was presented in several high-level events, including the 41st Session of the European Commission on Agriculture (ECA, Budapest, Hungary, 2019-10-01/02) and the MACS-G20 international workshop ‘Facilitating Research Collaboration on Transboundary Plant Pests’ (MACS-G20, Tsukuba City, Japan, 2019-11-27/29). The ECA Commission emphasized the need to support national and international research programmes, such as Euphresco. At the MACS-G20 workshop, there was agreement that the light-touch co-ordination platform proposed by Euphresco is an effective model and there was a desire to potentially see the network expand in the future, or to have other similar networks established.

We should leverage on these recommendations to build stronger plant health national and international research communities in order to move towards global phytosanitary research coordination.

Let’s meet in 2020!

2020 is the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH2020). Many events will be held to raise awareness of the importance of Plant Health but also to favour communication and catalyse engagement and collaboration. Research coordination will be presented and discussed in several occasions, including:
The 16th Congress of the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union (MPU 2020).
The 15th meeting of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM 15).
The scientific conference Our Plants, Our Future (BSPP).
The annual meeting of the American Phytopathological Society  (APS).
The 13th Arab Conference of Plant Protection (ACPP).

We look forward to meet with scientists, policy makers and administrators from research funding organizations to discuss how the Euphresco model of research coordination and collaboration can empower countries against the plant health challenges they face.

Transnational research collaboration to start soon

Discussions on the research topics proposed in 2019 have come to an end, collaborations have been secured between organizations in thirty-five countries worldwide and fourteen research projects will start in the next months on the following topics:

2019-F-310: The biology and epidemiology of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ and potato phytoplasmas and their contribution to risk management in potato and other crops. The number of psyllid species known to harbour 'Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum' is increasing. The project will inestigate the ability of these psyllids to vector 'Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum' and evaluate the potential risks they pose to crop plants.

2019-D-311: Systems for awareness, early detection and notification of organisms harmful to plants. Which systems for monitoring plant quarantine pests exist? What is the efficiency of these platforms and how they reach their target groups? The project will make an inventory of the existing systems for raising awareness and to identify, monitor and report plant pests and diseases or symptoms among professional and non-professional target groups in Europe.

2019-E-312: VirusCurate. Through the use of High Throughput Sequencing (HTS) in plant health, large numbers of previously unknown virus sequences are being revealed. The project will characterise viral isolates from collections and share best practices on methods for sequencing old samples and for bioinformatic analyses.

2019-F-313: Range expansion of bark beetles in the genus Ips. First evidence of breeding by Ips typographus in the United Kingdom and expansion of the range of Ips amitinus in Scandinavia suggests that factors that previously limited or moderated their distribution may be changing. The project will assess the climatic and anthropogenic factors that could be driving the changes in the ecology and spread of this important group of forest pests.

2019-E-314: Characterisation of Pratylenchus nematodes within Europe and populations moving in trade. Many Pratylenchus species described from Europe are very difficult to distinguish, and traditional morphology must be supplemented with molecular confirmation for accurate identification. The project will characterise European Pratylenchus populations.

2019-A-316: Early detection of Phytophthora in EU nurseries and traded plants. The project will valaidate protocols based on (already developed) meta-barcoding methods to screen EU nurseries and traded plants for Phytophthora spp.

2019-A-318: Sampling and analysis of asymptomatic Citrus fruits and leaf litter to detect the infection of Phyllosticta citricarpa. The project will evaluate the ethephon treatment of Citrus fruits to enhance symptom expression on fruits infected by Phyllosticta citricarpa and facilitate visual inspection.

2019-E-320: mtDNA characterisation of potato wart disease outbreaks. Recently, the annotated genomic sequence of Synchytrium endobioticum has become available, allowing the possibility to molecularly trace isolates on the basis of mitochondrial DNA. The project will aim to collect S. endobioticum material from a wide variety of sources; mtDNA sequence data will be gathered.

2019-I-321: Community Network for practices in Plant Virology. The project will strengthen knowledge exchange on High-Throughput Sequencing as a diagnostic tool for plant viruses by facilitating exchange of information and practices.

2019-F-323: ArthCollect - DNA sequences for the reliable identification of arthropod species of plant health importance. The project will contribute to develop a database of DNA sequences for the reliable identification of arthropod species of plant health importance.

2019-A-324: Reliable detection of plant pathogens in soil. Molecular detection tools (e.g. real-time PCR) to test soil matrices for the presence of soil-borne pathogens exist but they are impractical, as they can only be used with small amounts of soil. The project will explore the possibility of using large volumes of soil (>100 g) for total nucleic acid extraction for use in molecular tests. 

2019-C-326: Pathogen survival in soil. The project will study the survival of selected bacterial and fungal pathogens in the soil and (decomposing) organic matter after harvest of the host crop.

2019-A-327: Validation of molecular diagnostic tests for detection of Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) in seeds of tomatoes, chilies and eggplants. The project will validate conventional and real-time RT-PCR tests developed for the diagnosis of Tomato brown rugose fruit virus

2019-A-330 Diagnostic protocols for the detection of viruses in Xiphinema species of quarantine concern. Identification of Xiphinema spp. is difficult, due to lack of specimens and reliable molecular tests. The project will develop diagnostic protocols for Xiphinema spp. based on the identification of viruses they may carry.

It is still possible for organisations to join consortia, provided that their contributions will fit within the Euphresco research framework. In-kind contributions and alignment of existing research activities allows organisations to join the Euphresco consortia without committing monetary funds. Any request for participation in the above-mentioned projects should be sent to the Euphresco coordinator.

National research priorities currently under discussion

Euphresco projects start as ideas, based on national priorities and proposed by each Euphresco member. Through discussions, exchange and networking, the suggestions become projects. New suggestions for 2020 have been submitted by Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Tunisia, the United Kingdom and the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization. The list of suggested topics is available from the Euphresco website and expressions of interest can be sent to the Euphresco coordinator.

Strengthening collaboration with important research players

In recent months, the links between Euphresco and well-known global plant health research players have been tightened.

The Plant Biosecurity Research Initiative (PBRI) is a partnership between Australia’s plant Research and Development Corporations (RDCs), Plant Health Australia (PHA), the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR), industry, state and federal biosecurity stakeholders. Their aim is to coordinate funding for research and development in Australia. Euphresco and PBRI will collaborate on cross-sectoral projects on pre-border, at-border and post-border issues, and will facilitate connections between key elements of the respective networks research systems (i.e. government, industry, research, academic).

Better Border Biosecurity (B3) is a multi-actor science collaboration that undertakes research activities aiming at reducing the entry and establishment of plant pests in New Zealand. Mr Teulon, B3 Director, has substantially contributed to discussions around global phytosanitary research coordination; New Zealand (Ministry of Primary Industries) joined Euphresco on 2020-01-01, and such a membership should accelerate future alliances with the region.

The Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (Cabi) is a not-for-profit inter-governmental organisation focusing primarily on agricultural and environmental issues in the developing world. Cabi has just started an initiative to develop a ‘Fall Armyworm Collaborative Space’ aiming at encouraging research across the globe to exchange knowledge and data. Within this framework, Euphresco has been invited to be part of the project Steering Committee and the collaboration will help to identify needs, to develop data sharing policies and to evaluate the project impact and sustainability; all this work will benefit well beyond the Fall Armyworm community.
Open access reports and recommendations to policy makers
Since its creation, Euphresco has adopted an open science approach, i.e. the most important research outputs are publicly accessible. In the last months, several interesting projects ended and final reports with recommendations to policy makers are available on Zenodo.
  • Project 2015-A-118 Identification and early detection of Cryphonectria parasitica and Ceratocystis platani occurring on trees in Europe (CERACRY)
  • Project 2015-D-135 Assessment of Dickeya and Pectobacterium spp. on vegetables and ornamentals (Soft rot)
  • Project 2015-D-142 Consensus detection and identification protocol for Acidovorax citrulli on cucurbit seeds (DIP-ACIT)
  • Project 2015-E-147 Determine different Plum pox virus strains in wild hosts and in stone fruit cultivars with different susceptibility as a part of improved control and surveillance strategies (Epi-PPV)
  • Project 2015-B-148 Ring test for improved Potato virus Y strain detection
  • Project 2015-F-175 Multi-lure and multi-trap surveillance for invasive tree pests (Multitrap)
  • Project 2106-A-217 Use of barcoding, from theory to practice (PRACTIBAR)
  • Project 2016-A-232 Comparison of multiple real-time PCR & real-time LAMP detection methods for the plant pathogen 'Candidatus Liberibacter' spp. causing the Huanglongbing disease on Citrus spp. (HLBVALID)
Proceedings of meetings
Euphresco co-organized two important events in 2019:
The EPPO-Euphresco Scientific Colloquium ‘Plant Health at the Age of Metagenomics’. During the event, examples of how metagenomic data can be used to support pest-risk analysis, diagnostics and pest management were presented. Presentations are available on Zenodo and video-recordings are available on YouTube.
The second European Conference on Xylella fastidiosa. The latest findings from European research projects dealing with X. fastidiosa were presented. The conference was also an opportunity for participants to catch up on the latest advances and achievements of other national and transnational research activities that are ongoing worldwide and to discuss ways of strengthening coordination and synergies. Presentations and video-recordings are available from the EFSA website.
Knowing more about Euphresco
Anybody interested in receiving information on the Euphresco activities can subscribe to the newsletter by completing the form on the Euphresco website. Those interested in participating in Euphresco projects can contact the Euphresco coordinator.
Copyright © 2020 Euphresco, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
Euphresco at European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization
21 Bd Richard Lenoir 75011 Paris
France
 






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