BackgroundIn February 2016, a new fungal disease was spotted in wheat fields across eight districts in Bangladesh. The epidemic spread to an estimated 15,000 hectares, about 16 % of the cultivated wheat area in Bangladesh, with yield losses reaching up to 100 %. Within weeks of the onset of the epidemic, we performed transcriptome sequencing of symptomatic leaf samples collected directly from Bangladeshi fields.ResultsReinoculation of seedlings with strains isolated from infected wheat grains showed wheat blast symptoms on leaves of wheat but not rice. Our phylogenomic and population genomic analyses revealed that the wheat blast outbreak in Bangladesh was most likely caused by a wheat-infecting South American lineage of the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae.ConclusionOur findings suggest that genomic surveillance can be rapidly applied to monitor plant disease outbreaks and provide valuable information regarding the identity and origin of the infectious agent.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12915-016-0309-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundThe total health expenditure (as a percentage of GDP) and health outcomes in the region of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Association for South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) are lower than that of the OECD region and the world. This study investigated the relationship between different types of healthcare expenditures (public, private and total) and three main health status outcomes - life expectancy at birth, crude death rate and infant mortality rate - in the region.MethodologyUsing the World Bank data set for 15 countries over a 20-year period (1995–2014), a panel data analysis was conducted where relevant fixed and random effect models were estimated to determine the effects of healthcare expenditure on health outcomes. The main variables studied were total health expenditure, public health expenditure, private health expenditure, GDP per capita, improved sanitation, life expectancy at birth, crude death rate and infant mortality rate.ResultsTotal health expenditure, public health expenditure and private health expenditure significantly reduced infant mortality rates, and, the extent of effect of private health expenditure was greater than that of public health expenditure. Private health expenditure also had a significant role in reducing the crude death rate. Per capita income growth and improved sanitation facilities also had significant positive roles in improving population health in the region.ConclusionsHealth expenditure in the SAARC-ASEAN region should be increased as our results indicated that it improved the health status of the population in the region. Public sector health funds must be appropriately and efficiently used, and accountability and transparency regarding spending of public health funds should be ensured. Finally, government and private institutes should implement appropriate strategies to improve sanitation facilities.

BackgroundThe mechanism by which plants synthesize and store high amounts of triacylglycerols (TAG) in tissues other than seeds is not well understood. The comprehension of controls for carbon partitioning and oil accumulation in nonseed tissues is essential to generate oil-rich biomass in perennial bioenergy crops. Persea americana (avocado), a basal angiosperm with unique features that are ancestral to most flowering plants, stores ~ 70 % TAG per dry weight in its mesocarp, a nonseed tissue. Transcriptome analyses of select pathways, from generation of pyruvate and leading up to TAG accumulation, in mesocarp tissues of avocado was conducted and compared with that of oil-rich monocot (oil palm) and dicot (rapeseed and castor) tissues to identify tissue- and species-specific regulation and biosynthesis of TAG in plants.ResultsRNA-Seq analyses of select lipid metabolic pathways of avocado mesocarp revealed patterns similar to that of other oil-rich species. However, only some predominant orthologs of the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway genes in this basal angiosperm were similar to those of monocots and dicots. The accumulation of TAG, rich in oleic acid, was associated with higher transcript levels for a putative stearoyl-ACP desaturase and endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated acyl-CoA synthetases, during fruit development. Gene expression levels for enzymes involved in terminal steps to TAG biosynthesis in the ER further indicated that both acyl-CoA-dependent and -independent mechanisms might play a role in TAG assembly, depending on the developmental stage of the fruit. Furthermore, in addition to the expression of an ortholog of WRINKLED1 (WRI1), a regulator of fatty acid biosynthesis, high transcript levels for WRI2-like and WRI3-like suggest a role for additional transcription factors in nonseed oil accumulation. Plastid pyruvate necessary for fatty acid synthesis is likely driven by the upregulation of genes involved in glycolysis and transport of its intermediates. Together, a comparative transcriptome analyses for storage oil biosynthesis in diverse plants and tissues suggested that several distinct and conserved features in this basal angiosperm species might contribute towards its rich TAG content.ConclusionsOur work represents a comprehensive transcriptome resource for a basal angiosperm species and provides insight into their lipid metabolism in mesocarp tissues. Furthermore, comparison of the transcriptome of oil-rich mesocarp of avocado, with oil-rich seed and nonseed tissues of monocot and dicot species, revealed lipid gene orthologs that are highly conserved during evolution. The orthologs that are distinctively expressed in oil-rich mesocarp tissues of this basal angiosperm, such as WRI2, ER-associated acyl-CoA synthetases, and lipid-droplet associated proteins were also identified. This study provides a foundation for future investigations to increase oil-content and has implications for metabolic engineering to enhance storage oil content in nonseed tissues of diverse species.Electronic supple...

Background: In February 2016, a new fungal disease was spotted in wheat fields across eight districts in Bangladesh. The epidemic spread to an estimated 15,000 hectares, about 16 % of the cultivated wheat area in Bangladesh, with yield losses reaching up to 100 %. Within weeks of the onset of the epidemic, we performed transcriptome sequencing of symptomatic leaf samples collected directly from Bangladeshi fields. Results: Reinoculation of seedlings with strains isolated from infected wheat grains showed wheat blast symptoms on leaves of wheat but not rice. Our phylogenomic and population genomic analyses revealed that the wheat blast outbreak in Bangladesh was most likely caused by a wheat-infecting South American lineage of the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae.

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Paper and paper products are widely used without any antimicrobial efficacy in our everyday lives and thus can act as potential transporters of many diseases. Herein, we introduce antimicrobial activity to cellulose paper by presenting a tailored mussel-inspired strategy for the sustainable immobilization of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), which are well-known for the effectiveness in preventing annexation and proliferation of microbes on materials surfaces. First, we functionalized the cellulose paper with succinic acid that eventually reacted with dopamine to give dopamine-modified paper. The dopamine molecules possess excellent adhesion and strong coordination with metal substrates through catechol groups offering a potentially robust interface between AgNPs and the organic structure of the paper. Next, AgNPs were deposited onto the paper by simply immersing dopamine-modified paper in a silver salt solution to accomplish the antimicrobial properties. Field emission scanning electron microscopic study of the synthesized antimicrobial papers confirmed that the loading of AgNPs was time-dependent, and the average size of the nanoparticles was in the range of 50–60 nm after 8 h of deposition time. The paper decorated with AgNPs showed excellent antimicrobial activity against highly virulent and multiple antibiotic resistant Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria as well as against some extremely virulent fungal phytopathogens.