Monthly Archives: April 2019

An early warning tool for quarantine plant pathogen detection

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Once plant pathogens have spread and settled in a certain area, eradication is extremely difficult. Prevention by early detection at ports of entry is fundamental, especially in the context of growing global mobility and trade. In their new paper published in AMB Express, researchers developed a reliable and fast diagnostic assay for the early detection of quarantine pathogens such as Xylella fastidiosa.

Airborne viruses inside “germ factories”

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Compared to bacteria and fungus, the airborne viral microbiome in built environments, is relatively understudied. Recently published research in Microbiome looks to address this imbalance by examining the virome of a daycare center over the course of a year and was inspired by the seasonal pattern of illnesses picked up by the author’s daughter in a similar daycare.

The canary in a superbug mine

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Birds inhabit a range of habitats around the world and play a crucial role as sentinels of antibiotic resistance in the environment. A recent study published in BMC Biology used an innovative approach to detect antibiotic resistance genes in microbiomes of birds from the most remote locations to those from wastewater treatment facilities: here to explain the work are the authors of the paper.