Cheers! Westminster researcher bids
to eradicate devastating vineyard disease
May 30 2007
Wine drinkers could be raising a glass to a University of
Westminster academic if research into a disease that
devastates Californian vineyards is successful.
Dr Angray Kang, of the School of Biosciences at the
University's Cavendish Campus, is part of an international
collaboration to tackle Pierce’s disease, caused by bacteria
carried by insects, that affects thousands of acres of vineyard
each year. Researchers hope to be able to offer an alternative to
the wide-spread use of pesticides in the area by modifying the
bacteria in the insects themselves.
The collaboration, which involves scientists from the US
universities of California Riverside and Duquesne, Pittsburgh,
has received a $402,336 (£202,954) grant from the US
Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service.
The project aims to make the insects themselves tackle the
bacteria that cause Pierce’s disease – instead of passing it
on. The researchers will use antibodies to
genetically-modify bacteria carried by the insects to act
against other Pierce's disease-causing bacteria.
Westminster will be developing the antibodies targeting the
disease-carrying bacteria, before sending them to the Californian
researchers for testing.
Dr Kang said: “This research could help save a great deal
of vineyards in the future if taken up – which is something to
whet the appetite of any wine connoisseur.
"It is also part of a larger research commitment
to develop specific symbiotic control strategies to combat
insect-transmitted diseases in agriculture and in human
health.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. The principle behind this research is called
symbiont-based protection. When the genetically-modified
bacteria is introduced into the insects, the insects will produce
their own antibodies against the Pierce’s bacteria, which will
stop the disease from being passed on.
2. For more information, and for photographs, please contact
Rob Watson, media relations officer on 0207 911 5792 or email
pressoffice@wmin.ac.uk