PVEN News

23 August 2007 News Items:

• PVEN The Plant Virus Ecology Research Coordination Network went in search of a shorter name. Many suggestions were submitted. An e-mail vote resulted in the selection of “Plant Virus Ecology Network” (PVEN).
• Coordinating Committee A committee consisting of Denis Fargette, Sunny Power, Anna Whitfield, Carolyn Malmström and Ulrich Melcher has been established to coordinate activities of the PVEN in accord with the proposal.
• Lobbying the NPDN On behalf of the PVEN, co-coordinators submitted a letter to the board of the National Plant Disease Diagnostic Network (NPDN) urging them to consider as free access as possible without damaging commercial interests to the data that has accumulated. The recently formed US NPDN receives reports of plant diseases from regional PDD Networks who, in turn, receive reports from individual state diagnostic laboratories. The NPDN data contains information about time and place of virus outbreaks. The letter was well received by the board and will be considered in their deliberations.
• IVDN support Claude Fauquet is resubmitting a proposal to the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish an International Virus Database Network (IVDN). Its aim would be to tie together, computationally, existing databases containing virological information. A special emphasis is placed on computational methods in virus taxonomy. On behalf of the PVEN, Ulrich Melcher submitted a letter of collaboration to Claude Fauquet for inclusion in the proposal.
• American Phytopathological Society (APS) session Anna Whitfield, with support from Ulrich Melcher, submitted a proposal to the Virology Committee of the APS to hold a special session on Plant Virus Ecology for the 2008 Annual Meeting, the Centennial Meeting of the APS. The proposal was supported by that committee and the Epidemiology Committee and is under consideration by society officers. Due to an extra limitation on special sessions for the 2008 meeting, the topic may not be selected. If it is not, chances are good that it will be selected for the 2009 meeting.
• Flier distribution A simple flier describing the PVEN was produced. It was distributed to interested persons at the 2007 meetings of the APS, the American Society for Virology (ASV) and the Ecological Society of America (ESA). It contained selected passages from the proposal that resulted in the establishment of PVEN. (An e-file, as MS Word document can be sent on request). Several individuals have been added to the mailing list as a result of these recruiting efforts.
• IPVE invitation Ulrich Melcher has been asked to introduce the PVEN to attendees at the International Plant Virus Epidemiology (IPVE) Congress in Hyderabad this October. Several PVEN participants will attend the Congress and make presentations on their work. Where the next such Congress will be held will be discussed. The US has been mentioned as a possible site, perhaps in conjunction with a PVEN workshop.
• NEON contact It appears that, after years of planning, the NEON project will actually begin soon with major NSF funding. On behalf of the PVEN, Ulrich Melcher contacted Gary King of Louisiana State University. He is organizing a workshop in the spring of 2008 to be attended by microbiologists and NEON and NSF representatives. Gary King appreciated the input as there seems not to be great participation by virologists.
• Plant virus key At the request of Carolyn Malmström, a plant virus key has been developed. The key was developed by Tony Bridgewater, a PVEN-funded summer intern, and Yan Song, PVEN assistant , under Ulrich Melcher's supervision. A web interface allows entry of a variety of data that may be available on initial encounter with a plant virus into a search field. The search returns a list of suspects that fit the search conditions. Each suspect found can lead to a further page that provides ICTV data on the virus. The key will be released shortly. It awaits some cosmetic alterations.
• ICTV database Due to concern that the plant virus key contains information copied from International Committee for the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) resources, Ulrich Melcher discussed the plant virus key and the ICTV database with Eliot Lefkowitz, the chair of the ICTV database subcommittee. He reports that the database is slated for a major overhaul in the next year. The changes should provide further search options. He has also been lobbying Elsevier to make the contents of “Virus Taxonomy” available with a searchable interface. PVEN co-cordinators are drafting a letter to Elsevier supporting his lobbying.
• Proc. Royal Soc. Carolyn Malmström reports that the Proceedings of the Royal Society, series B, is looking for proposals for topics for special issues of the journal. The representative believes that Plant Virus Ecology would have a good chance of being selected. Contact Carolyn Malmström if interested.
• Webster et al. Roger AC Jones has called our attention to an article recently published on-line in Plant Pathology by CG Webster, BA Coutts, RAC Jones, MGK Jones & SJ Wylie. It compares infection incidences and other parameters for three situations in Western Australia involving potyviruses: an indigenous virus infecting an indigenous plant species; an indigenous virus infecting an introduced plant species; and an introduced virus infecting indigenous and introduced plants.

Upcoming issues and events:

• PVEN Website A website for project participants and the general public will be constructed at Michigan State University soon.
• External Advisory Board An external advisory board needs to be appointed. Individuals will be from related areas, but not directly involved in plant virus ecology. They will be looked to for advice on PVEN activities and plans. Suggestions of individuals are welcome.
• Elsevier As explained above, a letter supporting on-line access to “Virus Taxonomy” will be sent to the publisher.
• Workshop The PVEN is to hold a workshop during each of the five years of its funding. Planning for the first one needs to begin soon.
• IPVE A PVEN consensus about how to respond to the suggestion that the next IPVE meeting be held in the US in conjunction with a PVEN workshop needs to be developed before mid-October.
• Research issues and priorities Over the next months, mechanisms will be put in place to develop an statement of important issues for research in plant virus ecology.
• Overview article An article describing plant virus ecology as a field and the network should be developed early on.
• Museum exhibit An exhibit based on the plant virus ecology theme is being developed at Michigan State University.
• Database assembly One issue likely to be deemed important is an effort to assemble a team to create a database containing worldwide incidence information on plant virus infections. The assembly would require integration of a large number of diverse sources. The possibility of beginning the process through a NCEAS workshop needs to be considered.
• NSF RCN meeting NSF, as a condition of the grant, requires attendance on one coordinator at an annual meeting of Research Coordination Networks. Ulrich Melcher will represent the PVEN at the next meeting in mid-September. He has been asked both to prepare an oral presentation and to present a poster on the PVEN.

Ulrich Melcher

Co-Coordinator

Send messages about PVEN to U. Melcher
or write us at
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, NRC 246
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater OK 74078-3035
USA

If you need a conversation, call 405-744-6210 or to send a facsimile document, 405-744-7799.

You may want to check out the homepage of Ulrich Melcher's Lab. Other maybe useful links: VirOligo | Plant Virus Biodiversity and Ecology