COMPARATIVE GENOMIC SYSTEMS FOR MOLECULAR DETECTION AND CONTROL OF TOXIGENIC FUSARIUM

The overall goal of this project is to contribute to the effective control of toxigenic Fusarium, especially those responsible for FHB of small grain cereals, in order to enhance food safety and crop production in the U.S. and around the world. The proposed project is designed to produce a robust evolutionary framework for understanding the genetic and phenotypic diversity, geographic distribution and population biology of toxigenic fusaria, and will result in novel technologies for the rapid detection, identification and control of toxigenic fusarial pathogens of critical importance to food safety and food security. This framework will also support and facilitate work by the global Fusarium research community. The specific objectives are: Objective 1: characterize the genetic diversity and mycotoxin potential of Fusarium head blight and other fusarial pathogens, develop novel pathogen detection technologies, and expand web-accessible informational database to facilitate the rapid and accurate identification of toxigenic fusaria via the Internet. Objective 2: Determine the global population structure of F. graminearum and identify genetic variation associated with population-level difference in growth, reproduction, and toxin accumulation phenotypes as a means to improve pathogen modeling and surveillance. Objective 3: Characterize the mechanisms that drive the diversification and adaptive evolution of virulence genes in Fusarium genomes as well as host defense genes involved in immunogenicity and disease response.