Laboratory proficiency tests are a great tool to assess the application of reference methods used by EU NRLs for the detection of quarantine fungal pathogens. At the end of each proficiency test, a report with the results will be sent to all participants and EU Commission. Proficiency tests are performed under accreditation according to the ISO 17043 standard.
EURL for fungi and oomycetes will organize at least one proficiency test per year for all EU NRLs, using morphological and molecular methods for pathogen detection.
ANSES offers Leila platform for the registration, organization and participation on proficiency tests. Access and more information about the platform is available in the following link. Guides and video tutorials are provided to help with the familiarization of the platform and for the creation of user accounts.
One of the EURL activities is to keep NRLs up to date about research, providing information on EU regulated fungal and oomycete plant pathogens.
To this aim, EURL will organize a one-day annual workshop to the EU NRLs and other invited researchers, about topics of interest in mycology and plant pathology, as well as EU regulations, biosecurity, pathogen outbreaks …
EURL for fungi and oomycetes is open to suggestions for the theme of the future workshops. Submission of topic suggestions can be sent through the formulary available in the EURL website.
EURL aims to support NRLs in the application of new diagnostic methods to detect quarantine fungal and oomycete species. In this section, diagnostic protocols will be available, indicating which ones have been validated by the EURL.
An annual training course will be organized for staff of EU NRLs, and if needed, from other laboratories and experts from third countries, with the aim to improve diagnostic skills. Training courses will be organized in our facilities, in the Mycology Unit of the ANSES Plant Health Laboratory, located in Nancy, France.
The scope of the trainings will cover from the diagnostic of a specific fungal or oomycete species, to the application of diagnostic methods such as real-time PCR, among others. The trainings will include theoretical and practical sessions, and will be organized for up to five or six participants per session, and several sessions if high demand.
Technical files
EURL Reference Collection strains
In this section of the website we show you the Technical Files that we have created in order to fully characterize each fungal/oomycete strain available in the EURL Reference Collection.
These Technical Files contain all information related to the strain and are mainly divided in three sections:
1. The first section includes general infomation about the identity and origin of the strain: its taxonomic classification, ownership, the host and organs or subtrate where it was isolated from, the geographic origin, the collection formats available, the literature citations (like the publication that describes the species), and some comments related to the description and identification of the strain that we found relevant.
2. The second section includes the photos taken during the morphological identification of the strain: photos of the strain in two different culture media, and photos of the microscopic structures of that species (how mycelium looks like, conidia, sporangia...).
3. The third section includes all information obtained during the molecular identification of the strain, using different DNA barcodes. It shows the type of barcodes used, the primers (and their references), the sequence obtained, and the blast results and ID obtained from NCBI database.
Technical files will be made available with each request of the EURL Reference Collection materials. Here below you will find an example of a Technical File, in this case produced for a strain of Phyllosticta citricarpa.
/!\ Please, be aware that the reproduction of the content of the Technical files, like images, is not allowed without he permission of the EURL, and that the information contained there is exclusivelly dedicated to diagnostic activities of the EU-NRLS /!\
EURL Reference Collection
This reference collection is exclusivelly dedicated to support European Union National Reference Laboratories (EU-NRLs) diagnostic activities on quarantine fungal pathogens. Thus, this service is not available for public parties or private research laboratories located either in the EU or third countries.
All strains included in this collection are identified either by using morphological features, molecular-based approaches or both. Moreover, each strain is accompanied by a "Technical File" that contains all taxonomic, morphological and molecular details of that strain.
Different collection formats are available (please check the EURL collection database below to check the available formats for each strain): cultures in agar slants, agar plugs on glycerol (or sterile water if strains of oomycetes), genomic DNA (gDNA), filter paper discs, frozen mycelium ready for DNA extraction, positive control plasmids (check availability. The PCP are generally produced during the method validation experiments performed by the EURL).
The document below called "EURL Reference Collection Procedures" contains information about the establishment and maintenance of the EURL reference collection. Also, it includes information about how to request strains and documents needed.
All available strains are listed in the document entitled "EURL Reference Collection Database" that is updated when new additions are made to the collection. This document will help you to select the reference material you would like to request.
On the sub section of the EURL reference collection, called "Technical Files", you will find the list of available techical files for each strain deposited in the EURL reference collection. You will find relevant information about the identity of the strains.
HOW EU-NRLs CAN REQUEST REFERENCE STRAINS?
● All EU-NRLs can request reference strains from the EURL Reference Collection by submitting the webform included in the EURL website (EURL Activities > EURL Reference Collection > EURL Collection Requests form). If you encounter any issues using this form and you are not contacted by the EURL staff in the days or weeks following your request, please contact the EURL directly in the following email address: eurl.fungi@anses.fr).
● Writing an email to the EURL staff or the EURL official email address: eurl.fungi@anses.fr
● Do not forget to indicate in your request the reference code of the strain(s) you are interest in (the alphanumeric strain code found on the EURL Reference Collection database. e.g. "EURL ANSES-F 000") and the type of material/format you want to receive (DNA, positive control plasmid, agar slants, agar plugs in glycerol, mycelium, etc.).
REQUIREMENTS FOR REQUESTING REFERENCE STRAINS OR MATERIAL:
● The EURL will process all reasonable demands of reference material submitted by the EU-NRLs and may ask for a justification for such request and their use (i.e. diagnostic analyses or the activities for which the strains are needed).
● If the requested strain(s) comprises one or more quarantine fungal species, a Letter Of Authority (LOA) must be sent to the EURL before the shipping of the samples is arranged (only applicable for living organisms, not for DNA and positive control plasmids). The EU-NRL will need to request this LOA to the competent authorities of its country.
● For all requested strains and DNA samples the EURL will prepare a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA), which must to be signed by both parties, the EURL and the EU-NRL.
Once the EURL team receives the request, we will prepare the biological material and have it sent to the requestor as soon as it is possible. However, please be aware that some are slow-growing organisms and it can take weeks before the culture is ready to be shipped.
All costs associated to the preparation of the reference strains/materials and the shipping fees are fully covered by the EURL. Shipping will contracted with a fast international delivery service. All biological material will be shipped at room temperature.
If upon reception of the reference material the EU-NRL encounters any issues, the EU-NRL must communicate the anomalies to the EURL team immediately. The EURL will investigate the causes of this anomaly and replace the biological material if needed.
If you need further information/assistance about the EURL Reference Collection, do not hesitate to contact the EURL team (eurl.fungi@anses.fr)