Plant Health 2021 Online Preview: a Conversation with Plenary Speaker Professor Liying Sun
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www.apsnet.org July 2021 Volume 55 • Number 7 Plant Health 2021 Online Preview: A Conversation with Plenary Speaker Professor Liying Sun Jim Bradeen, APS Internal Communications Officer “In research, these discoveries may prompt us to recon- to pursue graduate research at China Agri- keep an open sider the traditional host-based concept of cultural University and Okayama Univer- mind and never plant and fungal viruses.” sity (Japan), focusing on plant and fungal limit your imagi- Liying will discuss her exciting research virology. She stresses the importance of nation.” Prof. during a plenary lecture at Plant Health good mentorship and credits her graduate Liying Sun offers 2021 Online on Tuesday, August 3. Her mentors, Prof. Han Chenggui and Prof. this advice for talk is titled “Cross-Kingdom Virus Infec- Nobuhiro Suzuki (Okayama University), students and other tion: Mycoviruses Pave the Way for Spread whose “guidance, great support, and kind early-career plant into Multiple Fungal Hosts,” and it prom- advice further grew my interest and passion pathologists. And, ises to change the way we think about for plant pathology.” Today, Liying is herself when it comes to viruses and virus transmission. (After the a professor of virology at the Northwest her own research, past 16 months or so, that is saying some- A&F University, China. she practices what she preaches! Liying is thing!) In an email exchange, I recently asked an expert on fungal viruses and is driven to Liying grew up in a small village in the Liying her perspective on the Seismic understand the origin of fungal viruses. Her grasslands area of the Inner Mongolia Au- Shifts in Disease Risks (the theme of Plant curiosity and creativity have led to some tonomous Region of China. From an early Health 2021 Online) and what pressing exciting observations. “The origin of fungal age she was fascinated by plants and vowed research needs to be done. She discussed viruses is still unknown. Indeed, it is one of to one day be a plant doctor. It was as a stu- the important impacts of climate change, the mysteries of life—Where do the viruses dent at the Agricultural University of Inner pathogen vectors, and disease distribution. come from? Our studies present novel find- Mongolia that she first became enamored She also spoke of the role of human activity ings of two-way virus transmissions between with what she calls the “mystery of the virus plants and fungi. As these cross-kingdom world”—that early fascination would shape infections may occur frequently in nature, the trajectory of her career. Liying went on Plant Health 2021, continued on page 8 New APS Council Members Elected In This Issue been elected as incoming vice president and Councilors’ Challenge . 3 will serve as president for the 2023–2024 APS Message . 3 term, and Sydney Everhart, University of OPRO ������������������������������������������������������4 Nebraska-Lincoln, who has been elected Donors of Distinction . 7 and will serve as councilor-at-large for the People . 8 2021–2024 term. Both will begin their Classifieds ������������������������������������������������10 terms following Plant Health 2021. Thank Graduate Student Spotlight . 11 you to everyone who voted! Research Notebook . 16 Complete biographic sketches, as well as personal statements of leadership, appeared Niklaus Grünwald Sydney Everhart in the May 2021 issue of Phytopathology News. Please join us in welcoming these APS welcomes our newest council mem- new officers to APS Council during Plant bers: Niklaus J. Grünwald, USDA-ARS- Health 2021 Online. ■ Horticultural Crops Research Unit, who has Phytopathology News July 2021 1 PLANT PATHOLOGY’S PERPLEXING PAST: THE REST OF THE STORY Editor-in-Chief: Kenny Seebold Editor: Jordana Anker Design: Jordana Anker Advertising Sales: Brianna Plank Julius Kühn—Father of Modern Phytopathology News (ISSN 0278-0267) is published monthly, with the August/September issue combined, by The American Phytopatholog- ical Society (APS) at 3352 Sherman Ct, Ste 202, St. Paul, MN 55121, Plant Pathology? U.S.A. Phone: +1.651.454.7250, Fax: +1.651.454.0766, E-mail: aps@ scisoc.org, Web: www.apsnet.org. Phytopathology News is distributed to all APS members. Subscription price to nonmembers is $116. Robert M. Harveson, University of Nebraska, Panhandle REC, Scottsbluff Submission Guidelines: Address all editorial correspondence to: Kenny Seebold, Valent USA, 608 Havana Court, Lexington, KY 40511 U.S.A. Biographical Background Phone: +1.859.940.5184; E-mail: [email protected]. In or- der to ensure timely publication of your news items and announcements, ü please send in material six weeks prior to the date of publication. Material Julius Gotthelf K hn was born in Pulsnitz, Germany, in 1825. should be no more than six months old when submitted. Submission of During his life, he had two distinct careers—farm estate manager materials as electronic files, via e-mail, will speed processing. For informa- tion on submitting electronic images contact Jordana Anker. Deadline for and university professor. Between 1848 and 1855, he worked as submitting items for the October 2021 issue is August 20, 2021. a farm manager for an estate near Bunzlau in Silesia (present day APS Leadership Poland). Council Due to a desire to teach agriculture, he attended the Agricul- President: Mark Gleason President Elect: Amy Charkowski ture Academy at Bonn-Poppelsdorf from 1855 to 1856, obtained Vice President: Ron Walcott a degree, and taught for one year. In 1857, he obtained his Ph.D. Immediate Past President: Lindsey du Toit Internal Communications Officer: James Bradeen degree, in absentia, based on a dissertation focusing on smuts of Treasurer: Lawrence Datnoff Senior Councilor-at-Large: Katherine L. Stevenson cereals and corn, before returning to farming on an estate near Councilor-at-Large: David Gent Glogau, Silesia. Councilor-at-Large: Courtney Gallup Divisional Councilor: Ashok Chanda As a result of these management positions, he began investiga- Publications Councilor: Krishna Subbarao tions into various agricultural problems, including plant diseases. Executive Vice President: Amy Hope Julius Kühn Editors-in-Chief In 1858, he published the first plant pathology textbook, Die APS PRESS: Darin Eastburn Karnkheiten der Kulturgewachse, Ihre Ursachen und Ihre Verhutung (The Diseases of Culti- MPMI: Jeanne M. Harris Phytobiomes: Johan Leveau vated Plants, Their Cause and Their Prevention). PhytoFrontiers: Niklaus Grünwald In 1862, he was appointed as the chair of agriculture at the University of Halle, where Phytopathology: Nian Wang Phytopathology News: Kenny Seebold he stayed until his death in 1910. As a result of his experiences as both a farmer and aca- Plant Disease: Alexander V. Karasev demic scientist, he was uniquely qualified to explain the causes of disease and understand Plant Disease Management Reports: Kerik Cox The Plant Health Instructor: Brantlee Spakes Richter practical disease management strategies, as well as the science behind the life cycle and Plant Health Progress: Pamela Roberts control measures for pathogens. Board and Office Chairs and Directors 2026 Professional Development Forum: Renée Rioux Academic Unit Leader Forum Chair: Steve Jeffers Accomplishments APS Foundation Board Chair: David M. Gadoury Divisional Forum Chair: Walt Mahaffee His accomplishments are legion but often overlooked. Kühn was the first plant pathol- PPB Chair: Rick Bennett Publications Board Chair: Krishna V. Subbarao ogist to employ the concept of Koch’s postulates and provide control recommendations OE Director: Monica M. Lewandowski for plant diseases based on experimental knowledge of disease etiology and characteristics. OIP Director: Susan D. Cohen OPSR Director: Jeffrey Stein It is remarkable that he employed these factors with the stem and bulb nematode in 1857, OPRO Director: Nicole M. Donofrio demonstrating it to be the cause of disease almost 20 years before the German physician AMB Director: Paul Esker Robert Koch Division Officers published his work on anthrax in cattle. Kühn identified a nematode infect- Caribbean ing the heads of Fuller’s teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) and further noted a similar nematode Divisional Forum Rep: Gilberto Olaya President: Alberto M. Gochez causing damage in rye. He then reproduced the disease in rye by placing nematode-infest- Past President: Carolina Cedano-Saavedra ed teasel heads within the rows of the grain, thereby providing proof of pathogenicity in Vice President: Judith K. Brown Secretary-Treasurer: Jose Carlos Verle Rodrigues both crops by the same pathogen. North Central Division Relying on his personal observations and experimentation, as well as knowledge from Divisional Forum Rep: Loren J. Giesler President: Loren J. Giesler the literature, he discerned the host–parasite relationships of many other diseases, includ- Immediate Past President: Daren S. Mueller Vice President: TBA ing ergot, smuts, rusts, powdery mildews, leaf spots, tuber and root rots, nematode dis- Secretary-Treasurer: Febina M. Mathew eases, and plant parasites (broomrape and mistletoe). This work not only foreshadowed Northeastern Division Divisional Forum Rep: Beth K. Gugino Koch’s contributions, it also helped dispute the erroneous concept of spontaneous genera- President: Ann L. Hazelrigg tion (theory that life begins from nonliving matter), which was widely believed at the time. Immediate Past President: Kari A. Peter Vice President: Rosa E. Raudales Secretary-Treasurer: Nicholas Brazee New Control Methods