Research@Lincoln
Research@Lincoln is an open access institutional repository collecting the research produced by Lincoln University staff and students. You may also be interested in Data@Lincoln or Lincoln University Living Heritage.
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Item Restricted Pollinator’s microbes and the fruit microbiome interactions(2022-11-28)Pollinators facilitate the transfer of pollen between flowers however, they may also transfer microbes while accessing nectar and pollen. This transfer of pollinator microbes helps shape the flower microbiome and additionally may play a part in the fruit microbiome. This microbial route of transmission between pollinator-flower-fruit has not been examined fully. This is a novel concept that has not been discussed in the scientific literature and there is a gap in this space. How the different plant (floral and fruit) microbiome is assembled, the microbial transmission between pollinator to plant, whether microbes use the flower to fruit transmission route and how this may impact the pollinator-plant-microbe interaction will be explored.Item Restricted Identification of fungal biota associated with myrtle rust infection and their potential as biocontrol agents against the disease(New Zealand Plant Protection Society, 2023-08-01)Myrtle rust, caused by Austropuccinia psidii, was first detected in New Zealand in 2017. Given its wide host range and the identification of the pandemic biotype in New Zealand, this pathogen is a major threat to the Myrtaceae family. This research, part of the Beyond Myrtle Rust programme, aims to develop a deeper understanding of the fungal microbiome associated with myrtle rust infection and identify hyperparasite(s) that can be developed as biocontrol agents against this pathogen. Fungal isolates were recovered from symptomatic and asymptomatic leaves from ramarama (Lophomyrtus bullata) and pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) across four sampling sites (Taranaki, Rotorua, Auckland and Christchurch). Approximately 120 fungal isolates with 2/3 being epiphytes and 1/3 being endophytes were isolated from the leaf wash and surface sterilized leaf tissue, respectively. In addition, putative hyperparasites were directly recovered from colonized rust pustules. These isolates were identified based on morphological features and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. The initial results showed more diverse fungal communities obtained from samples in native areas (Taranaki and Rotorua) compared to urban areas (Auckland and Christchurch), and more abundant epiphytic isolates compared to endophytic isolates. Species within the genera Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Epicoccum, Penicillium, Talaromyces and Trichoderma were recovered. To enable identification to species level, a range of taxonomically informative genes will be sequenced. The diversity of the fungal species recovered, and the identity of potential hyperparasites will be presented. This information will be used to select potential fungal isolates for testing for biological control activity against myrtle rust.Item Open Access Lincoln University proceedings: Grape & Wine Symposium, 23-24 September 1994(Lincoln University, 1994)Papers presented at the Grape & Wine Symposium, 23-24 September 1994.Item Open Access Proceedings: 5th Grape & Wine Spring School, 27-28 September 1997(Lincoln University, 1997)Papers presented at the 5th Grape & Wine Spring School, 27-28 September 1997.Item Restricted Do bacteria from pollinators reach the flower in blueberries?(Entomological Society of New Zealand, 2024-08-01)Insect pollinators exchange microbes with flowers during pollination, creating a tripartite interaction between pollinators, plants, and microorganisms in the flower. However, do any beneficial or commensal bacteria from pollinators reach the flower (and ultimately the fruit)? Known pathogenic bacteria use the floral interface during pollination to access its desired host. Through caged experiments, we tested this pathway of microbial transmission in the northern highbush blueberry with four different types of insect pollinators (bumble bee, honey bee, drone fly, and a solitary native bee). We captured epiphytic bacteria by washing the external surfaces of pollinators, blueberry nectaries, and blueberry fruits. All samples were processed via a standard metabarcoding pipeline, including total genomics DNA extraction, amplicon and indexing PCRs, library preparation, sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq platform (250x2 pairedend) and bioinformatics with dada2. We are analysing these data to (1) characterise the bacterial taxa present on pollinators and flowers and to (2) examine their exchange during pollination. We hypothesise that a small fraction of the pollinator-transmitted community will be discovered in blueberry flowers.
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