High Impact paper by the Wise lab on rRNA processing and R-gene independent cell death in barley (that’s right, not Arabidopsis). The work is published in the premier plant-dedicated journal and received additional spotlight as it was featured in an ‘In Brief’ and the first author Liu Xi (M.S. PLP) was highlighted in an ‘Author Profile’ – see links below. Congratulations to all involved on this great achievement using a true crop plant!!

Congratulations to Adam Bogdanove and Matt Moscou on their publication in SCIENCE! This development has been prominently featured at ISU with a news release and a link on the university homepage as well as in SCIENCE with an early online publication in SCIENCE Express. Follow the link below to the ISU news release. Great accomplishment and visibility!!

A research team led by Roger Wise in the Department of Plant Pathology had a research paper published in an October edition of The Plant Cell, the journal of the American Society of Plant Biologists. The paper, “Transcript-Based Cloning of RRP46, a Regulator of rRNA Processing and R Gene-Independent Cell Death in Barley-Powdery Mildew Interactions,” describes work on cell death in barley. Cell death is a key component in plant development and disease resistance.

Wide Angle: Arming Soybeans Against Pests

Two Iowa State researchers are examining a new method of controlling soybean aphids without the use of chemical pesticides. Bryony Bonning, professor of entomology, and Allen Miller, professor of plant pathology and director of the Center for Plant Responses to Environmental Stresses, are looking at a way to genetically modify soybeans to prevent damage from aphids.
Read More!

$193,008 from the National Institutes of Health to W. Allen Miller, professor of plant pathology and director of the Center for Plant Responses to Environmental Stresses, to study how some viruses use a unique mechanism to avoid host defenses and take over the host's protein synthesis machinery.

Brian Freeman recently obtained his Ph.D. degree in plant pathology under the guidance of Gwyn Beattie at Iowa State University in May 2009. His thesis was entitled “The role of water stress in plant disease resistance and the impact of water stress on the global transcriptome and survival mechanisms of the phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae.” Freeman was also the recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Student Oral Presentation Award at the 2008 American Society for Plant Biology Midwest meeting.

Tarek Hewezi was awarded Egypt’s National Achievement Award in the Agricultural Sciences by the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research, Cairo, Egypt, for his contributions in studying plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses.

Axel Elling has joined the faculty of the Department of Plant Pathology at Washington State University (WSU) as an assistant professor of molecular nematology. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in genetics from Iowa State University, where he worked under the guidance of Thomas Baum in the Department of Plant Pathology. His doctoral research focused on secreted effector proteins and genomics of the soybean cyst nematode.

Gwyn Beattie was recently invited to Pommersfelden, Germany, to speak at the 2009 University of Wurzburg International Retreat on the Molecular and Functional Analysis of Lipid-Based Signal Transduction Systems.