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Assisi, Italy
2nd – 8th July 2022
The events took place at the Hotel Valle di Assisi, in the Umbria region. The conference was organised by Roberto Buonaurio and Chiaraluce Moretti from the University of Perugia (see photo), who also provided invaluable support to us with the organisation of the IEW. They had been working on the conference with the chief organiser Nicola Sante Iacobellis (see photo) for the last 5 years when, just one month before the conference, he sadly passed away. Both the ICPPB and IEW were therefore dedicated to his memory. He would have been amazed at how good it felt after 2 years of scientific isolation during Covid for people to meet and catch up on their work, renew old acquaintances and build new friendships and collaborations.
Our friends and conference organisers Roberto Buonaurio Chiaraluce Moretti with Ian (left) and Nicola Sante Iacobellis (right)
International Erwinia Workshop (IEW)
The IEW took place over the weekend of the 2-3 July 2020 and brought together over 60 attendees to exchange ideas and build collaborations. Over the 2 days, there were 23 oral presentations and 13 poster presentations covering all aspects of the biology and control of Erwinia, Pectobacterium, Dickeya and Pantoea. To sit and listen to talks face to face was a novelty after staring at people through computer screens for so long and getting to ask questions without first having to raise an electronic hand! All presentations were of a high standard with many interesting topics and discussions, but of particular interest was a talk by Viola Krum on microbiome mediated potato resistance against soft rot Pectobacteriaceae (SRP). Viola’s fieldwork indicated that certain soil bacteria and fungi can suppress SRP and, if these microbes colonise the potato seed, it could potentially lead to reductions in disease incidence. Gary Secor, from the University of North Dakota also gave an interesting talk on the potential of petiole testing to assess susceptibility of potato germplasm to Dickeya diathicola to identify sources of resistance. This is of note as no commercial potato varieties are fully resistant to the SRP and assays to screen for resistance against SRP are notoriously difficult! In addition, Fabio Rezzonico gave a fascinating talk on an app that has been developed for fire blight in apples. The app can simultaneously inform farmers and stakeholders on fire blight, such as providing information on symptom identification and methods of disease control, as well as allowing a citizen science approach for mapping the spread of this fruit disease in Central Asia. The app could potentially be adapted to new countries or diseases.
There was a workshop dinner on the Saturday night at the Hotel Giotto in the medieval town of Assisi. The dinner took place on the terrace of the hotel allowing wonderful views over the olive trees and countryside. We also had the opportunity to stroll through the streets of Assisi and walk up to Basilica di San Francesco, one of the 54 UNESCO World Heritage sites in Italy, and the final resting place of St. Francis of Assisi.
Attendees of the International Erwinia Workshop
International Conference on Plant Pathogenic Bacteria (ICPPB)
The ICPPB immediately followed the IEW and went on for 5 days, including a whole-day tour of the beautiful and historic towns and landscapes of Umbria. Sessions included Molecular Plant – Bacteria (and Insect) Interactions, Disease Emergence and Pathogen Evolution, Nanotechnology in the Disease Control, Disease Epidemiology and Pathogen Ecology, Bacterial Pathogens and the Phytobiome, New Tools in Disease Diagnostics and Pathogen Identification, Disease Control and Prevention, Natural and Engineered Plant Disease Resistance, with good attendance throughout some long days.
There were many excellent talks throughout the week with regular keynote presentations. While not all of them can be mentioned here, three stood out. Cindy Morris from INRAE in Avignon, gave a fascinating talk about long distance spread of Pseudomonas syringae and stated that ‘all bacterial are a smear of strains – so is our concept of species accurate?’. This rang true for our work on the differences between the soft rot bacterial plant pathogens and their close relatives that cause disease on animals and humans, or in some cases across all three groups. Gabriele Berg from Graz University presented a very clear talk on plant microbiota and how such populations have been influenced by host breeding and the part that they might play in resistance. She also discussed how the microbiota is linked to ‘One Health’ through human, animal and environmental health, linking the plant microbiota to those in the gut. On a similar topic, Jan Leach from Colorado State University then presented an excellent talk with amazing slides on the role of bacterial proteins in aphid-plant interactions. She showed how Buchnera spp. dominate the Russian Wheat aphid’s microbiome, followed in number by enteric bacteria which together, when removed, caused loss of symptoms in the plant following aphid attack. However, the microbes on their own did not cause symptoms. This led to exciting questions being asked, including ‘can you prevent bacterial colonisation of baby aphids by preventing them interacting with their mother?’ and ‘should breeding programmes target bacteria rather than the aphid?’. We look forward to the next conference to find out the answers!
Outside of the science programme, there were plenty of opportunities for people to catch up over coffee, lunch and the conference dinner. The dinner took place in the beautiful and historic University of Perugia (see photo), where we were treated to a concert by a singing group that included our host and conference organiser Roberto. The singing was beautiful and, with the surrounds of the university, made it even more special. The dinner was then followed by a disco and karaoke where dancing took place during a heavy downpour as a thunderstorm passed overhead, which kept us cool in the 30°C evening air.
University of Perugia during the ICPPB conference dinner (left) and Moffat Makechemi on his bike surrounded by sunflowers (right).
New friends? Many – but Moffat Makechemi (see photo), who is doing his PhD under the supervision of Cyril Zipfel at the University of Zurich, stood out as being an excellent young scientist with a warm, engaging personality and with interesting links to the work in our lab, which we hope we can follow up soon.
Many thanks to BSPP for funding this trip, where many invaluable interactions took place and much new information was gained.
Sonia Humphris and Ian Toth
James Hutton Institute
The meetings began with the IEW workshop hosted by Ian Toth and Sonia Humphris. The genus Erwinia has undergone significant reclassification in the past 20 years, and so the workshop also included research from Pectobacterium, Dickeya, Pantoea and other related species. Several talks encompassed research of recently characterised species, such as Pectobacterium aquaticum and P. quasiaquaticum by Hajar Ben Moussa, and Pectobacterium punjabense by Jérémy Cigna. Others presented advances in the research of well-established diseases like potato blackleg and Erwinia amylovora, the cause of fire blight disease. Innovative new methods of disease control of Erwinia diseases also appeared as a key theme within the presentations. For example, Agata Motyka-Pomagruk presented work on the use of cold atmospheric pressure plasmas, a kind of ionised gas, to reduce soft rot-causing Pectobacteriaceae. Enrica Biondi presented exciting research on the use of essential oils to reduce E. amylovora.
At the ICPPB there were many fascinating talks over the five days. One example was a presentation by Yael Helman on how interactions between Xanthomonas perforans and Paenibacillus vortex can result in increased disease severity, as the Xanthomonas hitches a ride with the motile Paenibacillus to spread across a leaf surface. Another presentation, by Robert Czajowski, showed how a phage resistant mutant of Dickeya solani could not cause disease in planta; I found this particularly exciting as a phage researcher to see phage dynamics in planta being explored.
Attending the IEW and ICPPB was an invaluable opportunity for me to learn about research related to my own, and to meet both fellow PhD students and well-established researchers from within the field. I was able to present a talk during the IEW, and a flash talk and poster during the ICPPB, on my research on bacteriophages that lyse Gibbsiella quercinecans, a causative agent of acute oak decline. As a PhD student, both experiences were firsts, and enabled me to build upon my presentation skills and have in-depth discussions about my research. I am very grateful to the BSPP for funding my trip, FEMS for supporting my ICPPB registration fee, and to all the organisers involved in the events.
Emily Grace
