Project 3. Mycotoxin Prevention in Cereal Crops by Enhanced Host Plant Resistance Seminar, Staur Norway August Brian Steffenson,UM Åsmund Bjørnstad NLH

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

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

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.

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

To identify resistance to FHB: Costly and variable field trials Resistant spikesSusceptible Plastic bags give humidity Inoculation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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)

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

Have a good crop!