Key UC Contact
What We Did
Kauri dieback has been having a disastrous impact on Kauri trees in New Zealand and the local ecosystem. The dieback is considered to be caused by oomycete Phytophthora agathidicida attacking the roots, and while the infected trees can be treated, there is no cure.
Associate Professors Volker Nock and Ashley Garrill and their team are using “lab-on-a-chip” technology, which combines miniaturised sensors and fluid handling, to better understand the mechanism by which the pathogen finds and invades its target.
Who Was Involved
The project was initially funded by the Brian Mason trust and a Marsden Fast-Start grant. Associate Professor Nock has since been awarded an $800,000 Rutherford Discovery Fellowship to extend the work to a platform capable of screening possible treatments and to study the role of electric fields. The other members of the team are from the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology and the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands.
Why It Matters
New Zealand Kauri forest has been being devastated by the dieback that occurs due to pathogenic oomycetes. The outcome of this project could lead to finding natural treatments to prevent the pathogens from drilling into the Kauri roots and thus a way to stop the spread of the dieback. The understanding gained in this project could have global implication, as similar dieback outbreaks have been reported worldwide, and they are all exacerbated by climate change, emerging drug resistance due to overuse of agrochemicals and an increase in world-wide distribution by human travel and commerce. Domestically, it also has the potential to help with Myrtle Rust, a fungal disease threatening pōhutukawa, mānuka, rātā and other native plants.
Learn More
- Ayelen Tayagui, Yiling Sun, David A. Collings, Ashley Garrill, and Volker Nock. An elastomeric micropillar platform for the study of protrusive forces in hyphal invasion. Lab on a Chip, 2017, 17 (21), 3643-3653, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C7LC00725F
- www.stuff.co.nz/science/113397732/how-an-engineer-and-a-biologist-could-help-with-kauri-dieback-and-myrtle-rust
- www.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2019/uc-researcher-awarded-800000-fellowship-to-save-kauri-from-attack.html
- www.macdiarmid.ac.nz/news-and-events/podcasts/research-could-find-answers-to-kauri-dieback-and-myrtle-rust/
