Kauri Dieback Older Than We Thought, Research Shows
Phytophthora agathidicida (PTA), the fungus-like organism that causes kauri dieback, has been in New Zealand much longer than previously thought,
a study led by Bio-Protection Research Centre researchers based at Massey University suggests.
Plant geneticist Dr Richard Winkworth and collaborators have been using genome sequencing to investigate when PTA
arrived and how it has changed since arriving.
“It had been suggested that PTA arrived in New Zealand not long before the first diseased trees were found in the early
1970s,” Dr Winkworth says.
“However, our results suggest PTA was diversifying in New Zealand kauri forests around 300 years before that. It must
have arrived even earlier. Humans may have brought it here – perhaps the pathogen was carried to New Zealand by
Polynesian settlers or the earliest European explorers – or it may even have been here before humans arrived.”
The researchers have sequenced and analysed complete mitochondrial genomes of 17 PTA samples collected from sites across
the geographical range of the disease.
“The samples we have collected suggest several genetic subgroups within PTA,” Dr Winkworth says. “To better understand
the history of spread through the kauri forests we need to increase our sample size. However, we do see, for example,
that several genetic subgroups are present in the Waitākere Ranges, perhaps as the result of human activity.”
These results raise an important question: If PTA has been in New Zealand for at least the last 300 years, why has it
only recently become a significant problem?
“The results suggest that the relationship between PTA and its host may have changed,” Dr Winkworth says.
There are several ways this might have happened. One is that genetic changes to PTA have made it more virulent. “It is a
possibility, but our results suggest it is not as simple as a single pathogenic form evolving and spreading through the
forest,” Dr Winkworth says.
An alternative is that environmental changes have resulted in the disease emerging. “Our results are consistent with
this possibility,” Dr Winkworth says.
“Since humans arrived, we have been altering New Zealand environments. Perhaps the combination of heavily fragmenting
the kauri forests together with ongoing human-mediated disturbance and climate change has led to emergence of the
disease. Perhaps we introduced another pathogen that, in combination with PTA, results in disease.
“If we are to fight back effectively we need to better understand the relationship between when PTA arrived, its pattern
of spread, and the emergence of kauri dieback disease,” Dr Winkworth says. “Identifying why kauri dieback disease
emerged might help us to move beyond containment to managing and controlling it.”
The research team has also been developing a cheap, robust DNA test that is simple enough for community groups to use in
the field, but that is as accurate as laboratory-based testing.
“We are hoping to evaluate the test in field trials in the next few months.” Dr Winkworth says. “We hope that this will
make it easier to monitor where PTA is, both for the purposes of management but also to enable further research.”
This Massey University-led research has been largely funded by the Bio-Protection Research Centre, and has involved
researcher contributions from Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, Scion, and the
University of Auckland.
ENDS
About the Bio-Protection Research Centre
The Bio-Protection Research Centre is a Centre of Research Excellence funded by the New Zealand Government. It was
established in 2003 to drive innovation in sustainable approaches to pest, pathogen and weed control. The Centre has six
partner institutes: AgResearch, Lincoln University, Massey University, Plant & Food Research, Scion, and the University of Canterbury, with members throughout New Zealand.