Pectobacterium atrosepticum is one of the most economically damaging bacterial plant pathogens in the UK, causing blackleg disease of potato plants and soft rot of tubers.The DeS-BL (Building a Decision Support tool for Potato Blackleg Disease) project aims to develop …
Professor Ian Toth, project lead for DeS-BL, has received the British Potato Industry Award 2020.
In the last few months of the Bacterial Plant Diseases Programme our communications lead Sarah McLusky has been working with the projects and graphic designer Thomas Pawley to create summaries of their research and findings. Each summary give some background …
By Joana Vicente and Andrew Aspin As we are approaching the final stages of most of our BPD projects, we are turning our attention to impact, publications, stakeholders’ engagement, and dissemination. Other important aspects of these final stages also involve …
How BPD projects are using and contributing to culture collections Read More »
On Wednesday 10 May 2023 as part of Plant Health Week 2023 we hosted a webinar looking at four different bacterial species and how they affect our crops and food supplies. Replays of the presentations are available now on our …
In the first of our Fighting Bac workshops our researchers will share promising new strategies for controlling bacterial plant diseases using microbes and microbial products. The workshop will focus particularly on the next steps for translating these findings into real …
Fighting Bac: Making microbes our allies (Stakeholder Workshop) Read More »
Joana Vicente reports from the 4th International Erwinia Workshop (4th IEW) which took place 2-3 July 2022 in Assisi, Italy. Delegates took planes, trains and automobiles to convene at the Hotel Valle di Assisi to discuss various plant diseases that …
Blackleg is a disease of potatoes which in the UK it is mainly caused by Pectobacterium atrosepticum. The name comes from the fact that the lower stems of infected plants are dark brown or black. The discolouration and decay often …
It’s Plant Health Week 2022 and we are celebrating the benefits of healthy plants. An important part of keeping plants healthy is understanding the relationships between plants and bacteria to help manage bacterial diseases. Plants have a microbiome too Just …
We finally did it! After a long wait due to COVID restrictions, on Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 March 2022, we finally had our first face-to-face meeting – albeit with a substantial online cohort too. The 41 in-person attendees arrived …
Prof Ian Toth of the James Hutton Institute, project lead for DeS-BL, reports on their recent knowledge exchange meeting.
Who are the winners of our first photo competition? Find out here!
Working together to understand bacterial plant diseases to protect UK farms, forests and gardens. An interdisciplinary research consortium funded by BBSRC, NERC, Defra and the Scottish Government from 2020-2024.
The Bacterial Plant Diseases Programme was a consortium of 9 research projects supported by a Coordination Team. Use the links below to find out about each of the projects.