Bacteriophages – a safe and natural alternative for treating cherry canker?

The tree pathology lab at University of Birmingham (UOB) and Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, Birmingham, is headed by Professor Rob Jackson. This animation aims to provide a glimpse into the scientific background behind the work that we do in the Jackson lab and to highlight the importance of studying bacteriophage to control plant diseases caused by bacteria.

Dr Mojgan Rabiey is a plant pathologist working on plant pathogens and biological control of plant diseases, with an interest in understanding the fundamental and applied biological characteristics of bacteriophage in the context of treating bacterial diseases.

Prof Rob Jackson is an expert in bacteria-plant interactions, making major contributions to the understanding of how pathogens cause disease and how pathogens evolve to evade host immunity. He also has interests in applied biology questions relating to biocontrol approaches to treat plant diseases.

At Tree Pathology lab, headed by Prof Rob Jackson at University of Birmingham (UOB) and Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, Birmingham, we are using bacteriophages as biological control of bacterial canker of trees, caused by Pseudmonas syringae pathovars. Pseudomonas syringae is one of the most economically destructive plant pathogens that infect a wide range of globally important crops. Trees including Prunus species  are highly susceptible to P. syringae, with infection leading to bacterial canker and devastating impacts on commercial fruit production. We collect, characterise and apply bacteriophages (viruses that infect and replicate solely inside their specific host bacterium) to treat bacterial canker.