Associate Professor Mike Pearson
Researcher
Phone: 3737599 x88371
Fax: 373 7416
Thomas Building, Level 3, Room 338B
Email: m.pearson@auckland.ac.nz
Research Interests
The main research interests of the group are virus diseases of plants and viruses
infecting plant pathogenic fungi. Much of our plant virus research involves the study
of previously undescribed viral diseases, with a particular emphasis on horticultural
crops from New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
This includes detection and characterisation
of the causal agents, studying their epidemiology, and developing diagnostic tests,
the ultimate objective being the development of practical control measures.
The research
group has worked on a wide range of tropical and sub-tropical crops including taro,
squash, ornamentals, kiwifruit, citrus and vanilla. An important aspect of our work
has been information transfer research scientists and agricultural extension workers
in the Pacific Islands. To this end we have entered virus information into the FAO pest
and disease website and in some instances have produced information leaflets
in Fijian and Tongan, as well as in English.
Our group is also interested in the
effects of viruses on New Zealand native plants and we are currently studying the
effects of viruses on New Zealand native grasses.
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Research on mycoviruses is being carried out in collaboration with mycologists at Landcare Research, Auckland, and researchers at Bristol University, UK. with the ultimate aim of identifying viruses that might be used as biological controls of pathogenic fungi. Work to date has focussed on the two important plant pathogenic fungi, Botrytis cinerea and Monilinia fructicola. This work is currently funded by the National Centre for Advanced Bio-Protection Technologies.
Recent Publications
(2010).
A. generic RT-PCR assay for the detection of Luteoviridae.
Plant Pathology 59, 429-442.
(2010).
Incidence of cereal and pasture viruses in New Zealand’s native grasses..
Annals of Applied Biology 157, 25-36.
(2010).
Sensitive detection of viruses in pollen using conventional and real-time RT-PCR..
J. Phytopathology - early view on-line.
(2010).
Genetic diversity of Cucumber mosaic virus infecting vanilla in French Polynesia and Réunion Island..
Australasian Plant Pathology 39, 132-140.
(2010).
A generic method to identify plant viruses by high resolution tandem mass spectrometry of their coat proteins..
Journal of Virological Methods 163. 49-56..
(2009).
Development of a short oligonucleotide microarray for the detection and identification of multiple potyviruses.
Journal of Virological Methods, 162, 109-118, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/yl74ngk
(2009).
A generic method to identify plant viruses by high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry of their coat proteins .
Journal of Virological Methods, 163, 49-56, 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/yjr9pml
(2009).
Complete genome sequences of two distinct and diverse Citrus tristeza virus isolates from New Zealand.
Archives of Virology 154: 1505-1510, 2009.
http://tinyurl.com/yh52mfa
(2009).
Development of a short oligonucleotide microarray for the detection and identification of multiple potyviruses..
Journal of Virological Methods 162, 109-118..
(2009).
Complete genome sequences of two distinct and diverse Citrus tristeza virus isolates from New Zealand..
Archives of Virology 154, 1505-1510.
(2009).
A survey of viruses of flower bulbs in New Zealand..
Australasian Plant Pathology 38, 305-309..
(2009).
Control of virus diseases in intensively cultivated vanilla plots of French Polynesia..
Crop Protection 28 (10), 870-877.
(2009).
Partial characterization of a novel Tobamovirus infecting Actinidia chinensis and A. deliciosa (Actinidiaceae) from China..
European Journal of Plant Pathology 124, 247-259.
(2009).
Mycoviruses of filamentous fungi and their relevance to plant pathology..
Molecular Plant Pathology 10(1), 115-128..
(2008).
Molecular analysis of the coat protein and minor coat protein genes of New Zealand Citrus tristeza virus isolates that overcome the resistance of Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf..
Australasian Plant Pathology37, 379-386.
(2008).
Development of a generic PCR detection method for tobraviruses.
Australasian Plant Pathology 37(2) 132-136.
(2008).
First Report of Citrus leaf blotch virus in New Zealand..
Plant Disease 92 (10) 1470..
(2008).
First reports of Zantedeschia mosaic virus and Zantedeschia mild mosaic virus infecting Zantedeschia in New Zealand..
Plant Disease. Accepted for publication May 2008..
(2007).
Viruses of Actinidia: Do they pose a threat to Kiwifruit production?.
Acta Horticulturae753, 639-644.
(2007).
Plant pathogens transmitted by pollen..
Australasian Plant Pathology 36, 455-461.
(2007).
First report of Narcissus latent virus in New Zealand..
Plant Pathology 56, 720..
(2006).
First report of Ornithogalum mosaic virus and Ornithogalum virus 2 in New Zealand..
Plant Pathology 55, 820..
(2006).
Identification of potyviruses infecting vanilla by direct sequencing of a short RT-PCR amplicon.
Plant Pathology 55, 523-529.
(2006).
Molecular identification of New Zealand garlic yellow streak virus as a strain of Leek yellow streak virus..
Australasian Plant Pathology 35, 341-346.
(2006).
Molecular characterization of the Vanilla mosaic virus coat protein indicates two Potyvirus species with unusual features in the N-terminal region..
Archives of Virology 151, 905-919.
(2006).
A review of the plant virus, viroid and mollicute records for New Zealand..
Australasian Plant Pathology 35, 1-36.
(2006).
Effects and incidence of virus diseases in New Zealand’s only native cucurbit, Sicyos australis..
Australasian Plant Pathology 35, 29-35.
(2006).
Genome characterization of a flexuous rod-shaped mycovirus, Botrytis virus X, reveals high amino acid identity to genes from plant ‘potex-like’ viruses..
Archives of Virology. 151, 563-579.
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