"The Perfect Swarm" - Flooding across Northern Victoria leads to intensified mosquito breeding and subsequent re-emergence and transmission of Murray Valley encephalitis virus during the 2022-23 mosquito season.

Background: The sporadic yet explosive nature of Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV) in the southeast of Australia has led to several hypotheses to explain the viruses temporal and spatial patterns in the region. These theories, relying on the presence of flooding events, include the role of migratory waterbirds as carriers of MVEV from endemic areas in northern Australia or the re-appearance of MVEV from isolated, cryptic habitats. Here we describe the environmental, climatic and entomological factors that led to the development of the "perfect swarm" and re-emergence of MVEV in Victoria during the 2022-23 mosquito season, allowing greater scrutiny of the proposed theories for MVEV outbreaks in the southeast of Australia.

The Australian Biosecurity Genomic Database: a new resource for high-throughput sequencing analysis based on the National Notifiable Disease List of Terrestrial Animals.

The Australian Biosecurity Genomic Database (ABGD) is a curated collection of reference viral genome sequences based on the Australian National Notifiable Disease List of Terrestrial Animals. It was created to facilitate the screening of high-throughput sequencing (HTS) data for the potential presence of viruses associated with notifiable disease. The database includes a single verified sequence (the exemplar species sequence, where relevant) for each of the 60 virus species across 21 viral families that are associated with or cause these notifiable diseases, as recognized by the World Organisation for Animal Health.

Generation of Strains Expressing Fluorescent Proteins Suitable for Studying Host-Endophyte Interactions and Characterisation of a T-DNA Integration Event.

Methods for the identification and localisation of endophytic fungi are required to study the establishment, development, and progression of host-symbiont interactions, as visible reactions or disease symptoms are generally absent from host plants. Fluorescent proteins have proved valuable as reporter gene products, allowing non-invasive detection in living cells. This study reports the introduction of genes for two fluorescent proteins, green fluorescent protein (GFP) and red fluorescent protein, DsRed, into the genomes of two distinct perennial ryegrass ( L.