Barbara Howlett

Barbara Jane Howlett (/ˈhaʊlɪt/) is an Australian fungal plant pathologist.

Biography

Howlett grew up on a farm, which is a main reason for her interest in agriculture.^[1] Howlett received her BSc with honours from the University of Melbourne in 1970,^[2] her MSc from the Australian National University in 1973,^[3] and her PhD from the University of Melbourne in 1981.^[4] She is an honorary professor at the University of Melbourne.^[5][6]

Howlett made major contributions to connecting genetics to applied outcomes in agricultural sciences, especially by exploring the canola (Brassica napus) and blackleg fungus (Leptosphaeria maculans) interaction and developing that into a model system. In 2003 this fungus caused 90% yield losses in parts of Australia.^[7][8] Using discoveries made from this event, Howlett was involved in establishing a nation-wide surveillance program to preempt disease outbreaks: as one esample, this research saved canola farmers on Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, at least $18 million in 2012.^[9] Howlett was able to identify a pathogenicity gene that encodes for isocitrate lyase, an enzyme that is necessary for the fungus to colonize canola.^[10] In the early 2000s her group was the first to discover the genes underlying the synthesis of the important fungal metabolite class, the epipolythiodioxopiperazines, by finding a group of genes for the synthesis of the main toxin produced by L. maculans.^[11] In 2011 Howlett led an Australian team of researchers who, along with scientists from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, sequenced the genome of L. maculans.

She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2012, and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2014, which described her as a "leading international fungal plant pathologist".^[5][12] Howlett has served as a member of the National Science and Technology Council of Australia, which provides advice to the federal government, specifically the Prime Minister, on important scientific and technological matters.^[13]

Publications

Howlett has published numerous scholarly works and edited two books:^[2]

• Evolution of Virulence in Eukaryotic Microbes (2012)^[14]
• Sustainable strategies for managing Brassica napus (oilseed rape) resistance to Leptosphaeria maculans (phoma stem canker) (2006)^[15]