[APWG] Ecosystem management Phytotoxins Fungal Re: Native fungi might be there, for each weed species in USA?

[Wayne Tyson]

APWG:

Again thanks to Craig for providing links to his references; only in this 
way can we efficiently progress as a united society.

The use of "Cipro (R)" as an analogy strikes home. I was treated with 
fluroquinilones for double-pneumonia a few years ago, and there is a strong 
possibility that my disability (two ruptured tendons and a tendency toward 
tendonitis) was a result of taking those drugs. And it reveals a principle 
that might be of some use in the current discussion. The effects of various 
compounds and elements upon populations varies with individuals; I happened 
to be susceptible to the tendon-rupture effects of fluroquinilones, and 
apparently am a member of a relatively small subpopulation that is 
susceptible.

Similarly, populations of other organisms vary in their susceptibility and 
resistance to the effects of other organisms, compounds, and elements. When 
one organism advances, another population might be reduced or increased by 
virtue of what we call "ecosystem dynamics." "Successful" adaptations 
stimulate other adaptations. Genes shift as environmental conditions change, 
and resistance grows. That's the fundamental problem with H1N1 viruses--they 
adapt quickly to vaccines.

There's no free lunch, and success is short-lived.

WT

"Big fleas have little fleas, upon their backs to bite 'em, and little fleas 
have lesser fleas, and so ad 
infinitum." --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Siphonaptera


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company" <Craig at astreet.com>
To: <APWG at lists.plantconservation.org>
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 12:15 PM
Subject: [APWG] Native fungi might be there, for each weed species in USA?


Dear All,

I posted a note in Nov. 2005 about the discovery of two fungi useful for
killing knapweed, and how they were discovered.

I feel that for every plant weed that exists in the USA, there may be a
native fungus, that could be culture and applied to an weed infestation,
to kill it, or at least severely weaken it.

This method would utilize the already existing native fungi populations,
and you would not need to introduce an exotic species of fungi or insect,
to control the weed population.

I call these Native Fungi Weed Antibiotics, and for the two on the
knapweed, here is what I posted in part three years ago:

Yesterday, I checked the US Patent Office search website at
<http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/search-bool.html>
Enter, Term 1 = Knapweed, and Field 1 = Title.

I found TWO Knapweed biological control patents, and they both confirm
my theory that we can use <<Native Fungi Weed Antibiotics>> for weed
management in North America---and there's already two separate
inventions outlining how we can do that!

======================

The first one is the researcher from Hawaii that I was mentioning
yesterday, Eduardo Trujillo, who invented a method for selectively
killing knapweed with PATENT 5,112,381 & 5,455,219 by infecting the
knapweed with selected strains of the fungi PYTHIUM ROSTRATUM.  These
two patents have been assigned to the Colville Indian Tribe.

Fortunately, Dr. Trujillo deposited his discovered strains of the active
fungi in a public depository of fungi and bacterial cultures, the ATCC
<http://www.atcc.org/common/catalog/numSearch/index.cfm>.
His strains are ATCC No. 20976, 20977 & 20978.

You can read the details of his discovery on the US Patent web page, but
briefly, he found that you can spray knapweed with his strains of fungi,
mixed with a carrier of vermiculite & V8T juice, the fungi selectively
kills the knapweed.

===========================================

THE SECOND PATENT takes another approach to knapweed bio-control, using
another species of fungi.

PATENT 4,929,270 Montana State University, Bozeman, MT uses a chemical
extracted of compounds produced by the fungi ALTERNARIA ALTERNATA, which
selectively kills knapweed while sparing other plants to which they are
applied.  This approach is very similar to inventing a specific
antibiotic pill, like Cipro, to kill a particular bacteria.

The approached of this attack on the knapweed, was to locate "a host
specific or selective pathogen of spotted knapweed and employing either
the pathogen or its phytotoxic metabolites as control agents."

After a long search, an infected plant of the black leaf blighted
Knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) was found, and the pathogen was identified
as Alternaria alternata and grown in liquid culture and shown to produce
a number of phytotoxins.

According to the patent, this is the first time that a host-specific "Weed
Antibiotic" [my term] has been isolated from a weed pathogen.

The patent tells the story of the discovery:

"Nearly two months of intense searching through several counties in
southwestern Montana and an examination of about twelve hundred plants
culminated in the discovery of a seriously compromised plant on the
northern slope of Big Butte, a five hundred foot cinder cone in Butte,
Montana. Approximately thirty percent of the aerial leaves and ninety
percent of the flowers of the plant were covered by either black fungal
growth or dark brown, weeping lesions."

It would be nice, if anyone runs into an effective Native Fungi killing or
attacking a weed in North America, that they at least deposit a live
sample at ATCC so that researchers will have that strain available to look
at in the future?

A sample of this Microstegium pathogen should be deposited at ATCC, and
when ATCC issues the ATCC accession number, let everyone on this
List-server know, and have the culture available from ATCC for public
research use.

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333





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