Mycotoxins in a Changing World

(1) Objective 2: Establish integrative strategies to reduce mycotoxin contamination in food and feed. a) Engineer plants to detoxify mycotoxins or limit infection by mycotoxigenic fungi. b) Leverage breeding nurseries and experimental approaches for evaluation of mycotoxin resistant germplasm. c) Identify and test microbe-based approaches to reducing in-field mycotoxin contamination. (2) Objective 3: Increase understanding of internal and external factors related to the biology and ecology of mycotoxigenic fungi that determine mycotoxin production potential and outcomes. a) Identify fungal genetic factors determining mycotoxin production including evaluation of epigenetic factors, genes outside of the mycotoxin biosynthetic gene clusters, and using multiple fungal genotypes. b) Assess the role of abiotic factors such as water activity and temperature on mycotoxin production. c) Evaluate the role of microbe-microbe interactions, and host microbiome context on mycotoxin production.