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Brian Steffenson,UM Åsmund Bjørnstad NLH

Project 3. Mycotoxin Prevention in Cereal Crops by Enhanced Host Plant Resistance Seminar, Staur Norway 16-17. August. 2004. Brian Steffenson,UM Åsmund Bjørnstad NLH. The problem: head blight caused by Fusarium fungi. Shrivelled seeds Yield and quality losses Mycotoxin contamination.

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Brian Steffenson,UM Åsmund Bjørnstad NLH

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  1. Project 3. Mycotoxin Prevention in Cereal Crops by Enhanced Host Plant ResistanceSeminar, Staur Norway 16-17. August. 2004. Brian Steffenson,UM Åsmund Bjørnstad NLH

  2. The problem: head blight caused by Fusarium fungi • Shrivelled seeds • Yield and quality losses • Mycotoxin contamination

  3. The scale of the problem • $3 billion loss in the US since 1993 • Among the worst crop disease epidemics in US history • Ruined many farmers and the region’s reputation for high quality malting barley • The most serious disease of wheat • In Norway, a #1 resistance priority in wheat and oat, #2 in barley

  4. Why Fusarium head blight (FHB)? • A side-effect of soil protection! Less/no till leaves residues to contaminate next year’s crop • Severe infection when wet weather occurs during heading • Increasing practice in Europe • We need to adapt plants to the no-till growing conditions.

  5. How can we prevent FHB? • Resistance ! • Fungicides may increase the problem • Resistance found in humid environments like South China and Brazil • To make adapted genotypes is a long and tedious project • No completely effective resistance is known in any cereal

  6. To identify resistance to FHB: Costly and variable field trials Inoculation Plastic bags give humidity Resistant spikes Susceptible

  7. Replace this by DNA technologies • Select for reliable genetic markers (”fingerprints”) rather than field selection • Transgenic resistance by strengthening the natural plant defenses Progeny from crosses with Sumai 3 Resistance allele marker >

  8. Why UM and NLH? • UM: 8 faculty involved in FHB work • 70 years in FHB research • World leader in DNA marker development and basic research in FHB • NLH/Planteforsk: >5 faculty/ researchers, the strongest in the Nordic countries • Both have close ties to breeding implementation • Many potential interfaces of collaboration

  9. Collaboration in cereal markers • We work on complementary sources of germplasm • UM: Very good markers in wheat based on the Chinese Sumai 3 • NLH: Promising resistance in oats, UM is world leading in oat biotech • GOALS: Develop/validate/implement markers NLH-UM

  10. Collaboration with breeders and industry • NLH: Graminor, Svaløf-Weibull: ready to implement the UM Sumai 3 markers in their wheat breeding • UM breeding programs • Potential: Busch Agr. Resources Inc., Cargill

  11. Collaboration in functional genomics of FHB • Complexity of cereal genomes: Barley 18 x bigger than human genome, wheat 3x barley: maps very demanding • Rice can provide markers (UM work) • UM: A number of genomic approches both in host and pathogen • NLH: Induced resistance by elicitors, gene expression, expression-based markers, RT-PCR of fungal toxin genes • GOALS: To understand the basic defense system to FHB

  12. Barley1 GeneChip Gene Expression Data ~500,000 spots 22,840 barley genes

  13. Bioinformatics • Genomics: Analyze QTL and functional data by Partial Least Squares, Dr. Harald Martens, CIGENE • Analytical methods: Replace expensive mycotoxin analyses by NIR (Dr. Roger Ruan/ Dr. Harald Martens, NLH)

  14. Collaboration in transgenes • Express natural plant defenses more strongly • UM: Many potential antifungal genes are being tested in transgene prototypes • NLH/Norw. Crop Research Institute: transgenes which are active at the time of infection • GOAL: to develop and test transgenic lines resistant to FHB

  15. Transgenic technologies in barleyEssential clue: express the transgene during early seed development (work in Ås, Dr. S. Klemsdal) GP-UT ltp2-ech42 ltp2nag1 S35-ech42

  16. Transgenic Fusarium resistance Non-infected control Infected control Infected transgene Courtesy: Dr. S. Klemsdal

  17. Collaboration in education • UM: graduate program, MAST International exchange program in agriculture at the UM • NLH: A new Post graduate program in plant biology about to be developed • Can benefit strongly from UM, one of the strongest schools in the US

  18. Established funding sources • USDA: US Wheat-Barley Scab Initiative + USDA/NRI + NSF • Minnesota Scab Initiative • Norwegian Research Council + Graminor (not sufficient for large scale functional genomic work)

  19. Suggested funding levels • 1 Ph.D. student + 1 postdoc in each group (may work jointly/ interactively) • Field testing, mycotoxin analyses, exchange/travel, other running costs • Recommended cost levels: 3 mill NOK/4-500’ USD per year put together

  20. Have a good crop!

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