Plant pest and pathogen collections
The James Hutton Institute has generated internationally important reference collections of plant pests and pathogens that are maintained with the support of the Scottish Government Underpinning Capacity funding. The collections focus on the threats to key Scottish crops (potatoes, barley and soft fruit). Many accessions represent genetically fingerprinted reference strains/lineages of insect pests, nematodes, viruses, fungi and oomycetes.
These collections are crucial for understanding the biology and ongoing evolution of the plant pests and pathogens and a key resource for many other studies; for example, pesticide insensitivity or plant resistance breeding programmes. The accessions are available, on request, as either living specimens or DNA samples. Further details, searchable databases and contacts for specific collections are available via the link below: