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Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland

Scientists have figured out what caused the Irish Famine

The fatal pathogen was uncovered in dried potato plant samples that were over 120 years old.

SCIENTISTS AT A research institute in Germany have figured out what caused the potato blight during the Great Famine, using dried potato plants that are over 120 years old.

Researchers at the Max Planck institute announced they have identified the exact strain that caused “all this havoc” in Ireland.

For the first time researchers have decoded the genome of a plant pathogen and its plant host from dried samples. This opens up a whole new area of research into how pathogens evolve and how human activity impacts the spread of plant disease.

A team of moleclar biologists from Europe and the US reconstructed the spread of the potato blight pathogen ‘Phytophthora infestans’ from these dried plants:

image

(Image: Marco Thines/Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung)

The 11 historical samples from potato leaves came from Ireland, the UK, Europea and North America. Even though they were between 120 and 170 years old, they were still found to have many intact pieces of DNA.

“The degree of DNA preservation in the herbarium samples really surprised us,” said Johannes Krause from the University of Tübingen, a co-author of the study.

“Herbaria represent a rich and untapped source from which we can learn a tremendous amount about the historical distribution of plants and their pests – and also about the history of the people who grew these plants,” Kentaro Yoshida from The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich added.

The researchers examined the historical spread of the fungus-like pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine and concluded that a strain new to science was responsible for the fatal outbreak. It was previously thought that a strain called US-1 was the culprit.

Samples were compared with modern strains from around the world and scientists were able to estimate when the various strains diverged from each other over time.

The authors of the research said this now paves the way for further “treasures” hidden in herbaria to be uncovered.

Read: Irish Famine ‘Tribunal’ to probe if it was crime against humanity>

Read: What has happened to Ireland’s workhouses?>

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    Mute Arthur Callaghan
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    Sep 13th 2014, 4:01 PM

    hope she is not too hurt

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    Mute Barry Doyle
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    Sep 13th 2014, 4:52 PM

    But you hope she’s a little bit hurt?

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    Mute Stefan Epure
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    Sep 13th 2014, 5:07 PM

    Scary stuff. I once had a Lancer and i had to hard wire the radio and i forgot to tape up the live wire properly it a pot hole and a short melted the wiring loom while i was driving smoke everywhere scary stuff

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    Mute Tony Canning
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    Sep 13th 2014, 5:17 PM

    Full stop.

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    Mute Brendan Cooney
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    Sep 13th 2014, 5:30 PM

    Misleading headline. The car ploughed into the barrier on the slip road and then burst into flames.

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    Mute David Keogh
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    Sep 13th 2014, 5:51 PM

    Was thinking the same Brendan. Headline seemed to suggest that the car had randomly just burst into flames.

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    Mute Eddie
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    Sep 13th 2014, 8:21 PM

    Hope she isn’t hurt at all

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    Mute John Rabbett
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    Sep 13th 2014, 9:30 PM

    Ah lads, The Journal wouldn’t mislead us with a headline…. would they??

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    Mute John B
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    Sep 13th 2014, 4:14 PM

    Slightly misleading headline. It suggest car just spontaneously burst into flames. What appears to have happened is she crashed into barrier at exit; likely driver error. Hope she isn’t seriously hurt. A lesson for us all how drivers need to pay the utmost attention all the time.

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    Mute 3monkey
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    Sep 13th 2014, 4:22 PM

    What’s the lesson derived from this accident for all us other drivers then ? You must have all the facts ?

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    Mute #Wynner
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    Sep 13th 2014, 4:30 PM

    Smoke might have blinded her view hence crashing into barrier

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    Mute Dave Moran
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    Sep 13th 2014, 4:33 PM

    A lot of assumptions. …?

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    Mute John B
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    Sep 13th 2014, 7:03 PM

    3monkey perhaps you can’t read. My message was the importance of paying attention when driving.

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    Mute 3monkey
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    Sep 13th 2014, 9:15 PM

    Well I never !!

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    Mute Alan landers
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    Sep 13th 2014, 6:40 PM

    Women drivers

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    Mute Mad Mike
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    Sep 13th 2014, 10:56 PM

    A woman spontaneously burst into flames on the M50? Mad.

    Now, I’m off to speed read some more articles and post some snappy but insightful comments.

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    Mute captain morgan
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    Sep 13th 2014, 8:10 PM

    Barrier blinded her an she crashes into the smoke

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    Mute Martin Donovan
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    Sep 13th 2014, 5:27 PM

    Cool

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