Durga Amulothu, Ph.D.

The eyes of a curious scientist always search for science in every observation. The lichens on this gravestone also serve as a natural indicator of low air pollution in the region.

07.09.2025 03:02 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Hello Plant Science community👋 I’m open to new opportunities in research (academia or industry). Background in plant pathology, mycology, fungal genomics & biocontrol. Open to all locations. Any leads are welcome! Thanks.

21.08.2025 10:47 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

I’m glad to see the lab equipment being acknowledged. They truly deserve it for the invaluable service they’ve provided in enabling our research. Though inanimate, they are integral to our daily scientific work and occupy our labs like silent colleagues, ever-present and dependable.

14.08.2025 09:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

ICTV have decided not to use Latin anymore. They’ve now decided to use Ancient Elvish for naming.

12.08.2025 16:11 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Found these Citrus leaves with yellowish orange powdery growth on their abaxial surface. Literature suggests as Entomopathogenic Fungi viz., Aschersonia cf. aleyrodis & Aegerita webberi parasiting on the citrus blackfly Aleurocanthus spp.

Pic Credits: Nehala Shaji, Kerala, India

05.08.2025 15:38 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Just learned that Frank Stahl (of the Meselson and Stahl DNA replication experiment ("the most beautiful experiment in biology") died at the beginning of April, to no fanfare. Here's a lovely video of them reminiscing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-tn...

26.06.2025 10:01 — 👍 137    🔁 72    💬 5    📌 7

Brinjal?

02.07.2025 05:33 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Professor Linda Kinkel has been selected as a World Food Prize Top Agri-Food Pioneer! 🌱 Kinkel's work at Jord BioScience harnesses the strengths of microbial diversity as a sustainable agriculture solution.

24.06.2025 17:22 — 👍 9    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0

Preserving the Biologically Coherent Generic Concept of Phytophthora, “Plant Destroyer”: “We can see no reason why a Darwinian should adopt the concept of paraphyly” (Ernst Mayr and Walter Bock 2002): Phytopathology®: Vol 0, No 0 Phytophthora is a long-established, well-known, and globally important genus of plant pathogens. Phylogenetic evidence has shown that the biologically distinct, obligate biotrophic downy mildews evolved from Phytophthora at least twice. Because, cladistically, this renders Phytophthora “paraphyletic,” it has been proposed that Phytophthora evolutionary clades be split into multiple genera (Crous et al. 2021; Runge et al. 2011; Thines 2023, 2024). In this letter, we review arguments for the retention of the generic name Phytophthora with a broad circumscription made by Brasier et al. (2022) and by many delegates at an open workshop organized by The American Phytopathological Society. We present our well-considered responses to the genus splitting proposals, both in general terms and in terms of the specific proposals for new genera, alongside new information regarding the biological properties and mode of origin of the Phytophthora clades. We consider that the proposals are mostly non-rigorous and not supported by the scientific evidence. Further, given (i) the apparent lack of any distinguishing biological characteristics (synapomorphies) between the Phytophthora clades; (ii) the fundamental monophyly of Phytophthora in the original Haeckelian sense (Haeckel 1877); (iii) the fact that paraphyly is not a justification for taxonomic splitting; and (iv) the considerable likely damage to effective scientific communication and disease management from an unnecessary breakup of the genus, we report that workshop delegates voted unanimously in favor of preserving the current generic concept and for seeking endorsement of this view by a working group of the International Commission on the Taxonomy of Fungi. Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.

Just published, #Phytopathology, Letter to the Editor:
Preserving the Biologically Coherent Generic Concept of #Phytophthora, “Plant Destroyer”.

#DownyMildews
#Oomycetes
#Taxonomy
#Systematics
#Paraphyly
#Phylogeny
#Cladistics
#PlantBiosecurity
#ScientificCommunication
#PlantDiseaseManagement

21.06.2025 17:32 — 👍 4    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0