Accurate prediction of the adverse effects of test compounds on living systems, detection of toxic thresholds, and expansion of experimental data sets to include multiple toxicity end-point analysis are required for any robust screening regime. Alamar Blue is an important redox indicator that is used to evaluate metabolic function and cellular health. The Alamar Blue bioassay has been utilized over the past 50 years to assess cell viability and cytotoxicity in a range of biological and environmental systems and in a number of cell types including bacteria, yeast, fungi, protozoa and cultured mammalian and piscine cells. It offers several advantages over other metabolic indicators and other cytotoxicity assays. However, as with any bioassay, suitability must be determined for each application and cell model. This review seeks to highlight many of the important considerations involved in assay use and design in addition to the potential pitfalls.

There is an urgency to supplant the heavy reliance on chemical control of Fusarium diseases in different economically important, staple food crops due to development of resistance in the pathogen population, the high cost of production to the risk-averse grower, and the concomitant environmental impacts. Pathogenomics has enabled (i) the creation of genetic inventories which identify those putative genes, regulators, and effectors that are associated with virulence, pathogenicity, and primary and secondary metabolism; (ii) comparison of such genes among related pathogens; (iii) identification of potential genetic targets for chemical control; and (iv) better characterization of the complex dynamics of host–microbe interactions that lead to disease. This type of genomic data serves to inform host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) technology for targeted disruption of transcription of select genes for the control of Fusarium diseases. This review discusses the various repositories and browser access points for comparison of genomic data, the strategies for identification and selection of pathogenicity- and virulence-associated genes and effectors in different Fusarium species, HIGS and successful Fusarium disease control trials with a consideration of loss of RNAi, off-target effects, and future challenges in applying HIGS for management of Fusarium diseases.

Food security is a global concern. Fusarium are among the most economically important fungal pathogens because they are ubiquitous, disease management remains a challenge, they produce mycotoxins that affect food and feed safety, and trichothecene mycotoxin production can increase the pathogenicity of some Fusarium species depending on the host species. Although trichothecenes may differ in structure by their patterns of hydroxylation or acetylation, these small changes have a significant impact on toxicity and the biological activity of these compounds. Therefore, detecting and identifying which chemotype is present in a given population are important to predicting the specific toxins that may be produced and, therefore, to evaluating the risk of exposure. Due to the challenges of inducing trichothecene production by Fusarium isolates in vitro for subsequent chemical analysis, PCR assays using gene-specific primers, either singly or in combination, designed against specific genes of the trichothecene gene cluster of multiple species of Fusarium have been developed. The establishment of TRI genotypes that potentially correspond to a specific chemotype requires examination of an information and knowledge pipeline whose critical aspects in sequential order are: (i) understanding the TRI gene cluster organization which differs according to Fusarium species under study; (ii) knowledge of the re-arrangements to the core TRI gene cluster over evolutionary time, which also differs according to Fusarium species; (iii) the functions of the TRI genes in the biosynthesis of trichothecene analogs; and (iv) based on (i)–(iii), selection of appropriate target TRI gene(s) for primer design in PCR amplification for the Fusarium species under study. This review, therefore, explains this pipeline and its connection to utilizing TRI genotypes as a possible proxy to chemotype designation.

The Colletotrichum gloeosporioides species complex is among the most destructive fungal plant pathogens in the world, however, identification of member species which are of quarantine importance is impacted by a number of factors that negatively affect species identification. Structural information of the rRNA marker may be considered to be a conserved marker which can be used as supplementary information for possible species identification. The difficulty in using ITS rDNA sequences for identification lies in the low level of sequence variation at the intra-specific level and the generation of artificially-induced sequence variation due to errors in polymerization of the ITS array during DNA replication. Type and query ITS sequences were subjected to sequence analyses prior to generation of predicted consensus secondary structures, including the pattern of nucleotide polymorphisms and number of indel haplotypes, GC content, and detection of artificially-induced sequence variation. Data pertaining to structure stability, the presence of conserved motifs in secondary structures and mapping of all sequences onto the consensus C. gloeosporioides sensu stricto secondary structure for ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2 markers was then carried out. Motifs that are evolutionarily conserved among eukaryotes were found for all ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2 sequences. The sequences exhibited conserved features typical of functional rRNAs. Generally, polymorphisms occurred within less conserved regions and were seen as bulges, internal and terminal loops or non-canonical G–U base-pairs within regions of the double stranded helices. Importantly, there were also taxonomic motifs and base changes that were unique to specific taxa and which may be used to support intra-specific identification of members of the C. gloeosporioides sensu lato species complex.

The islands of the Caribbean are considered to be a “biodiversity hotspot.” Collectively, a high level of endemism for several plant groups has been reported for this region. Biodiversity conservation should, in part, be informed by taxonomy, population status, and distribution of flora. One taxonomic impediment to species inventory and management is correct identification as conventional morphology‐based assessment is subject to several caveats.DNAbarcoding can be a useful tool to quickly and accurately identify species and has the potential to prompt the discovery of new species. In this study, the ability ofDNAbarcoding to confirm the identities of 14 endangered endemic vascular plant species in Trinidad was assessed using threeDNAbarcodes (matK,rbcL, andrpoC1). Herbarium identifications were previously made for all species under study.matK,rbcL,andrpoC1markers were successful in amplifying target regions for seven of the 14 species.rpoC1sequences required extensive editing and were unusable.rbcLprimers resulted in cleanest reads, however,matKappeared to be superior torbcLbased on a number of parameters assessed including level ofDNApolymorphism in the sequences, genetic distance, reference library coverage based onBLASTNstatistics, direct sequence comparisons within “best match” and “best close match” criteria, and finally, degree of clustering with moderate to strong bootstrap support (>60%) in neighbor‐joining tree‐based comparisons. The performance of both markers seemed to be species‐specific based on the parameters examined. Overall, the Trinidad sequences were accurately identified to the genus level for all endemic plant species successfully amplified and sequenced using bothmatKandrbcLmarkers.DNAbarcoding can contribute to taxonomic and biodiversity research and will complement efforts to select taxa for various molecular ecology and population genetics studies.

Colletotrichum gloeosporioides sensu lato is widely distributed throughout temperate and tropical regions and causes anthracnose disease in numerous plant species. Development of effective disease management strategies is dependent on, among other factors, an understanding of pathogen genetic diversity and population stratification at the intraspecific level. For 132 isolates of C. gloeosporioides sensu lato collected from papaya in Trinidad, inter-simple-sequence repeat-polymerase chain reaction (ISSR-PCR) generated 121 polymorphic loci from five ISSR primers selected from an initial screen of 22 ISSR primers. The mean percentage of polymorphic loci was 99.18%. Bayesian cluster analysis inferred three genetic subpopulations, where group 1 consisted exclusively of isolates collected in the southern part of Trinidad whereas groups 2 and 3, although genetically distinct, were mixtures of isolates collected from both the northern and southern parts of Trinidad. Principal coordinates analysis and unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic mean phylogeny were concordant with Bayesian cluster analysis and supported subdivision into the three subpopulations. Overall, the total mean gene diversity was 0.279, the mean within-population gene diversity was 0.2161, and genetic differentiation for the Trinidad population was 0.225. Regionally, northern isolates had a lower gene diversity compared with southern isolates. Nei's gene diversity was highest for group 1 (h = 0.231), followed by group 2 (h = 0.215) and group 3 (h = 0.202). Genotypic diversity was at or near maximum for all three subpopulations after clone correction. Pairwise estimates of differentiation indicated high and significant genetic differentiation among the inferred subpopulations (Weir's θ of 0.212 to 0.325). Pairwise comparisons among subpopulations suggested restricted gene flow between groups 1 and 2 and groups 1 and 3 but not between groups 2 and 3. The null hypothesis of random mating was rejected for all three inferred subpopulations. These results suggest that pathogen biology and epidemiology as well as certain evolutionary factors may play an important role in population substructuring of C. gloeosporioides sensu lato isolates infecting papaya in Trinidad.