The fundamental question about Dioscorea trifida (Dioscoreaceae), the most important Amerindian yam, that remains unresolved concerns its evolutionary origin, since no wild relative has been reported. In this paper we report the existence of D. trifida's wild relative for the first time. The diploidy of wild D. trifida (2n = 40) is clearly demonstr...
Published in Archives of Virology
The discovery of endogenous pararetroviral sequences (EPRVs) has had a deep impact on the approaches needed for diagnosis, taxonomy, safe movement of germplasm and management of diseases caused by pararetroviruses. In this article, we illustrate this through the example of yam (Dioscorea spp.) badnaviruses. To enable progress, it is first necessary...
Anthracnose, caused by the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, is the most serious disease affecting water yam (Dioscorea alata) in the tropics. The objective of this study was to determine whether infected yam residues from the previous growing season could be a source of inoculum for the following yam crop. Residue decomposition and survival o...
