Fungus fighter

From locoweed to chile, Creamer explores impacts of lowly fungus

By Audry Olmsted

Rebecca Creamer got her first taste of plant pathology at a young age, when she attended a 4-H career fair while in middle school. She didn’t know if she could do it, but it sounded like something fun she could try. What cemented her decision to focus her education on the diseases of plants? Creamer learned it was a profession that required specialized skill – and it was something that could actually provide a good living.

Now, Creamer, who is an associate professor in the Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Weed Science at New Mexico State University, calls herself unusual because her bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate and post-doctorate degrees have all been in plant pathology.

Creamer teaches plant pathology and plant virology classes, directs the Molecular Biology Program and has served as the interim director of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory.

Creamer, who has been at NMSU since 1999, has two primary research projects that deal with microbiology. Through her research, Creamer and her EPPWS team have named a new fungus and they are in the process of naming a newly discovered plant virus.

Creamer is studying how to predict and manage the curly-top virus.

“Curly-top virus is a problem in New Mexico, primarily on chile. It causes the plant to be very short and yellow and not produce marketable fruit,” she said.

The virus, which normally spends its time on weeds, is picked up and moved by the leafhopper insect.

The curly top virus is actually a complex of viruses, Creamer said, and the team has dubbed a new strand of the virus they have found the “pepper-yellow dwarf virus.”

For the past couple of years, Creamer has been a part of a cooperative project within her department to look at the interaction between the weed and the leafhopper, and the researchers are investigating ways to use resistance in chile to combat the virus.

Creamer is also involved in a research project looking at a fungus that lives in locoweed. The fungus is toxic when eaten by animals such as cattle and horses.

The researchers are trying to characterize the fungus by looking at its genetics and comparing it with other fungi. The fungus is a problem throughout the western U.S., and similar species have been found in China and South America.

Since the toxin is in the seed coat of the plant, Creamer said if they can remove the seed coat, there is no fungus and no toxin. The researchers have worked out an embryo culture method in which they take off the seed coat and grow plants that no longer have the fungus or the toxin.

Creamer said she enjoys that people at the university work together.

“This university values applied research helping out agriculture, and that’s what I like doing. I like seeing that I can make a difference and fairly directly. Some people can think, ‘This might help somebody 25 years from now’,” Creamer said. “I like seeing that I can make a difference in the short-term by working toward the application of it. This university values that.”

Creamer’s enjoyment of being outdoors studying the diseases of plants crosses over into her personal life. She enjoys outdoor activities like bike riding – she rides her bike to work about three times a week – and running. With the “million different groups” Creamer participates in on- and off-campus, including her work as a Girl Scout leader, being a part of the public speaking group Toastmasters and spending time with her family, she said she is “not usually bored.”