Canada: Memorial University researcher is getting to the root of what causes common scab on potatoes

The crop may still be edible, but no one wants scabby potatoes. Not the commercial farmer whose livelihood hinges on a clean-looking yield, nor the backyard green thumb aiming for the most successful harvest want to see anything but a smooth peel on their spuds. But common scab, a condition which affects other root crops besides potatoes, is an agricultural headache that is not easy to avoid. It is caused by a species from a group of bacteria called streptomycetes, which are commonly found in soil. Digging into it Dr. Dawn Bignell, a biology professor and researcher at Memorial University in St. John’s is trying to help get a better handle on the root cause of scabby potatoes and what can be done to get the disease under control. Her work investigating the microorganisms that include the bacteria responsible for common scab stretches back more two decades to the days when she was pursuing her PhD in 1998. In 2006, she was at Cornell University and began working with a world expert ...