A talk by James Mcdonald, Bangor University.
As the effects of climate change are rapidly increasing, the need to protect flora species becomes increasingly important.
With forests and woodlands globally ensuring species diversity, tree health is a major concern.
Within the last 30 years, UK trees have experienced a major increase of disease outbreak which is causing many species of tree to decline, resulting in a reduction of biodiversity- which has negative impacts of the ecosystem, as James explained.
Oak trees are one of the most important tree species within the UK, due to their ability to contain large amounts of carbon – as James highlighted.
Acute oak decline is a disease which affects Oak trees throughout the UK, it is characterised by vertical stem bleeds throughout the trunk of the tree.
By studying the inner bark, James and his team determined, through isolation studies, that it was microorganisms which were the cause of acute oak decline in oak trees – rather than the previous assumption of beetle larvae.
Although, the beetle larvae were responsible for the spread of the disease causing bacteria through the lesions within the bark.
The isolation of microorganisms within the lesion of the bark allowed for the identification of the two disease causing bacteria – Brenneria goodwinii and Gibssiella quercinecans.
Oak trees, like humans, have a microbiome which acts to protect them from invading pathogens which may cause a disease such as acute oak decline.
Through the use of metagenomics for the study of the microbiome in oak trees, it was determined that the microbiome of the healthy oak trees and the symptomatic oak trees were quite different – indicating that the microbiome impacts the health of the species.
Through metatranscriptome analysis, the transcription of particular genes in both healthy and symptomatic genes were studied, with a variation in gene expression seen in both the pathogens and the tree in each case.
This study interested me as it highlights the advancement that genomic technology has made, as without metagenomics or transcriptomics for example, the knowledge obtained from this study would not have been possible.
As I am interested in a career in biotechnology, this study emphasises the use of such technologies, and how they can be used to help protect species and reduce the impact of climate change – possibly a future career pathway?
With climate change becoming an increasing problem, the ability to conserve species by studying them, will allow them to be better conserved in a time where they face extreme decline.
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