April 1998 Volume IV, No. 1SUMMARIES OF SYMPOSIA & MEETINGS At the 5th EUROPEAN FUSARIUM SEMINAR, held September 2-5, 1997 in Szeged, Hungary, over 200 participants from 42 countries presented and discussed papers on several aspects of plant pathogenic Fusaria and their toxic metabolites, including the following topics: 1) Natural occurrence of toxins and their biochemistry, 2) Significance of mycotoxins in human and animal health, 3) Significance of toxins in plant diseases, 4) Fusarium taxonomy, population studies, occurrence, 5) Breeding cereals for resistance, 6) Fusarium oxysporum. Several participants presented data on epidemics of Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat or ear rot in maize, on susceptibility of local cultivars to disease and toxins accumulation in kernels and on breeding for resistance. Promising results were presented on new lines of wheat just available, which can be used in breeding programs. Despite the great efforts in this direction, commercial cultivars are still susceptible to scab and likely to accumulate mycotoxins. Since 1994, epidemics of FHB in barley occurred in North Central U.S.A. and adjacent provinces of Canada. Proceedings of the seminar have been published in Cereal Research Communications, 1997, vol. 25, no 3/1 and 3/2 (over 600 pages) and can be ordered from: A. Mesterhazy, Cereal Research Institute, 6701 Szeged, P.O. Box 391, Hungary. Fax: +36-62-43-4163; E-Mail: h10152 mes@ella.hu. The SATELLITE WORKSHOP ON MOLECULAR AND BIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF TOXIGENIC FUNGI, held on August 29-30, 1997 in Szeged - Hungary (organized by A. Logrieco, CNR- Istituto Tossine e Micotossine, 70125 Bari, Italy) brought together people working on DNA molecular methods for the identification of toxigenic fungi, belonging to Fusarium, Phoma, Aspergillus, Gliocladium, Trichoderma, Verticillium and Petromyces species. Recent advances in the usage of molecular methods such as RFLP, RAPD-PCR, SCAR, AFLP, rDNA sequences as well as immunosorbent assay were presented. Papers presented at the Workshop are published in Cereal Research Communications, 1997, vol. 25, No 3/1, pp. 241-308. The 19th GERMAN MYCOTOXIN WORKSHOP was held in Munich, from June 2-4, 1997. Proceedings of the workshop included 52 contributions dealing with toxicology, ecology, biotransformation, detoxification, analysis and occurrence of mycotoxins. Proceedings are available at the cost of 50 DM plus postage from: Prof. E. Maertlbauer, University of Munich, Veterinaerstrasse 13, 80539 Munich, Germany. Fax: +49-892-180-2106. |