FUSARIUM IN WHEAT

Projektbeschreibung

Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat is a major threat to sustainable wheat production worldwide. Infection with Fusarium leads to severe yield losses. In addition, Fusaria produce mycotoxins in infected kernels deleterious to animals and humans. These toxins are highly heat stable and cannot be eliminated completely once they have entered the food chain. Therefore, growing of resistant cultivars is the best means to reduce the threat of mycotoxin contamination of cereal food and feed.

Genetic variation for FHB resistance in wheat was described in several gene pools. In spring wheat, a few highly effective quantitative trait loci (QTL) were found in exotic stocks from China and Brazil. In European winter wheat, the genetic basis seems to be much more complex, but can be improved by effective recurrent selection procedures. Nevertheless, resistance to FHB in wheat is of quantitative, multigenic nature and therefore it is a tedious and time consuming task for plant breeders to develop cultivars adapted to local environmental conditions with a high level of FHB resistance. For that reason, in this project molecular marker techniques and functional genomics as well as mutagenesis and conventional breeding strategies will be used to develop FHB resistant wheat germplasm.

Project Aims:
The overall goal of this project is to develop FHB resistant wheat germplasm to minimize mycotoxin contamination. In order to reach this aim the project concentrates on marker assisted selection and subsequent use of selected lines in pre-breeding for FHB resistance in wheat. Lasting resources will be created including genomics tools.

The project is structured into three modules:

Module 1: Molecular characterisation of adapted resistances sources;
• Identification and exploitation of genomic regions that confer low mycotoxin accumulation in materials adapted to Central Europe
• Validation of previously mapped resistance QTL

Module 2: Introgression breeding of resistances from exotic sources;
• Introgression of multiple non-adapted QTL that confer Fusarium resistance into elite winter wheat without negative side effects
• Estimation of the effect of highly efficient spring wheat QTL on the fitness of Fusarium graminearum populations in the frame of a risk analysis
• Detection and characterization of new potent resistance donors in genetic resources (Triticum spp.) and introgression of these sources into adapted wheat

Module 3: Functional genomics.
• Apply new methods of Functional Genomics to FHB resistance breeding (TILLING, virus induced gene silencing VIGS)