OT:All it takes is a single gene

[Guest guest]

Even though this has to do with mainly plants it does go to show

what many of us have been saying, and that is, that the fungi can

and DO mutate.

KC

All it takes is a single gene

ScienceAlert - Australia*

http://www.murdoch.edu.au/News/View/?article_id=25597

Sometime prior to 1940 a fungus, Stagonospora nodorum, transferred a

single gene to non-pathogenic fungus, creating a new disease which

now costs farmers around the world millions of dollars yearly.

Senior Lecturer Dr and Professor Oliver, who

work within the Murdoch University Australian Centre for

Necrotrophic Fungal Pathogens, are investigating how Stagonospora

nodorum is able to cause widespread disease in wheat.

Dr and Professor Oliver, with colleagues in the US and

Switzerland, recently published their findings in Nature Genetics.

" Gene transfer (horizontal gene transfer) was widely speculated for

many years, but up until now, the data has been weak, " Dr

said.

" Our study has for the first time presented strong evidence that

genes are able to pass from one species to another. "

Dr said their work would have relevance throughout the world

in light of the new emerging diseases and infections in humans being

linked to contact with animals in the past decade.

Both Dr and Professor Oliver have been asked to present

these findings at several major international conferences as a

result of the publication.

Most recently Dr spoke at the Frontiers of Science

conference in Canberra at the Australian Academy of Science as part

of a group of Australia's most promising early and mid-career

researchers.