BBSRC Embrapa - Using HIGS and si-RNA technologies to explore and control Fusarium Head Scab disease in wheat fields
Lead Research Organisation:
Rothamsted Research
Department Name: Plant Biology & Crop Science
Abstract
In total, 22 researchers are involved in this project, 12 in Brazil and 10 in the UK. Ten are EMBRAPA employees located at Trigo, Passo Fundo (5), agricultural informatics, Campinas (1), soybean, Londrina (1) and Cenargen, Brasilia (3). The two additional Brazilian scientists are University based (Vicosa and Maringa). The UK scientists are located at Rothamsted Research (RRes) in the department of Plant Biology and Crop Science (9) and Applied Bioinformatics (1).
The assembled team has highly complementary skills, which are required to deliver the initial project objectives and to develop the joint studies required to deliver the full project. The skills needed to deliver on the six work packages (WPs) proposed are as follows:
WP1: Phytopathology and modelling, specialising in Fusarium head blight (FHB)-wheat (Fernandes, Del Ponte and Tessmann), epidemiology, diagnostics and air dispersal of various pathogens including wheat infecting Fusaria (West).
WP2: Plant, animal and fungal bioinformatics and protein modelling (Martins and Togawa), plant and pathogen genomics (King and Hammond-Kosack).
WP3: T-DNA design, stable plant transformation, analysis of transformants (Huttly, Lee and Jones), transient wheat transformation (Lau), transgenic plant analyses (Bonato). Designing/conducting GM wheat field trials in Brazil (Nepomuceno) and UK (Jones).
WP4: Functional genomics/genetics and plant biotechnology, including Host induced gene silencing (HIGS) and si-RNA of Fusarium graminearum (Fg) in tobacco (Aragão), wheat and Arabidopsis (Kanyuka, Hammond-Kosack). Fungal molecular genetics and Fg transformation (Urban).
WP5: FHB disease assessments in controlled environment and/ or the field (Lima, Urban, Brown, Machado), mycotoxin quantification (Tibola and Urban), near-infrared reflectance analysis of wheat grain quality (Tibola), digital imaging processing (Barbedo).
WP6: Grant proposal and report writing - all, either as a team or as an individual.
This project requires the use of specific resources. These include the already well characterised cereal infecting fusarium isolate collections obtained from previous wheat crops grown Rio Grande and Parana States in South Brazil. The working prototype FHB-wheat prediction model developed for South Brazil. Advanced bioinformatics pipelines established at RRes for Fg genome assembly and annotation, and at Brasilia for elimination of non-target organism effects. The highly efficient wheat transformation facility only available at RRes. The protected GM field trial site at RRes and equivalent GM trial sites in South Brazil. The licensed containment growth room facilities in place at Cenargen and RRes for exploring HIGS and si-RNA mechanisms using various transgenic plant species in combination with transgenic Fusarium reporter strains. Finally, the unique near infrared resonance analysis facility for grain analysis is only available in Passo Fundo.
The four EMBRAPA institutes, two Brazilian Universities and RRes each have well developed scientific infrastructures in place to expedite the experimentation proposed, the data capture, analyses and storage required and the regular communication needed by Skype, e-mail and by using secure data exchange sites.
The proposed project will be closely aligned with activities under the new UK-Brazil partnership for Yield Stability and Protection in a Changing Climate (PYSP). PYSP is part-funded by a Newton-fund joint centre award and is jointly coordinated by RRes and EMBRAPA. This project will be integrated within PYSP activities, ensuring there is adequate coordination of exchange activities with minimal duplication and maximum engagement between different groups from EMBRAPA and research groups at RRes. PYSP will provide a central focus for all RRes/ EMBRAPA activities, thereby strengthening links across projects and ensuring greater impact for all joint research undertaken.
The assembled team has highly complementary skills, which are required to deliver the initial project objectives and to develop the joint studies required to deliver the full project. The skills needed to deliver on the six work packages (WPs) proposed are as follows:
WP1: Phytopathology and modelling, specialising in Fusarium head blight (FHB)-wheat (Fernandes, Del Ponte and Tessmann), epidemiology, diagnostics and air dispersal of various pathogens including wheat infecting Fusaria (West).
WP2: Plant, animal and fungal bioinformatics and protein modelling (Martins and Togawa), plant and pathogen genomics (King and Hammond-Kosack).
WP3: T-DNA design, stable plant transformation, analysis of transformants (Huttly, Lee and Jones), transient wheat transformation (Lau), transgenic plant analyses (Bonato). Designing/conducting GM wheat field trials in Brazil (Nepomuceno) and UK (Jones).
WP4: Functional genomics/genetics and plant biotechnology, including Host induced gene silencing (HIGS) and si-RNA of Fusarium graminearum (Fg) in tobacco (Aragão), wheat and Arabidopsis (Kanyuka, Hammond-Kosack). Fungal molecular genetics and Fg transformation (Urban).
WP5: FHB disease assessments in controlled environment and/ or the field (Lima, Urban, Brown, Machado), mycotoxin quantification (Tibola and Urban), near-infrared reflectance analysis of wheat grain quality (Tibola), digital imaging processing (Barbedo).
WP6: Grant proposal and report writing - all, either as a team or as an individual.
This project requires the use of specific resources. These include the already well characterised cereal infecting fusarium isolate collections obtained from previous wheat crops grown Rio Grande and Parana States in South Brazil. The working prototype FHB-wheat prediction model developed for South Brazil. Advanced bioinformatics pipelines established at RRes for Fg genome assembly and annotation, and at Brasilia for elimination of non-target organism effects. The highly efficient wheat transformation facility only available at RRes. The protected GM field trial site at RRes and equivalent GM trial sites in South Brazil. The licensed containment growth room facilities in place at Cenargen and RRes for exploring HIGS and si-RNA mechanisms using various transgenic plant species in combination with transgenic Fusarium reporter strains. Finally, the unique near infrared resonance analysis facility for grain analysis is only available in Passo Fundo.
The four EMBRAPA institutes, two Brazilian Universities and RRes each have well developed scientific infrastructures in place to expedite the experimentation proposed, the data capture, analyses and storage required and the regular communication needed by Skype, e-mail and by using secure data exchange sites.
The proposed project will be closely aligned with activities under the new UK-Brazil partnership for Yield Stability and Protection in a Changing Climate (PYSP). PYSP is part-funded by a Newton-fund joint centre award and is jointly coordinated by RRes and EMBRAPA. This project will be integrated within PYSP activities, ensuring there is adequate coordination of exchange activities with minimal duplication and maximum engagement between different groups from EMBRAPA and research groups at RRes. PYSP will provide a central focus for all RRes/ EMBRAPA activities, thereby strengthening links across projects and ensuring greater impact for all joint research undertaken.
Technical Summary
N/A
Planned Impact
The primary purpose of this project is to address issues relating to food/ feed security and food/ feed safety in developing countries, such as Brazil, Africa, China, and elsewhere in the world, caused by a high profile plant disease that leads to the contamination of harvested cereal grains with harmful fungal toxins (mycotoxins). The project will partner the longest running agricultural research organisation in the UK, and the largest agricultural science organisation in Brazil, providing access to an enormous range of expertise and resources. By bringing together these internationally excellent scientific groups, we will create a new collaborative potential for research that is further strengthened by the coordination efforts of the UK-Brazil Newton funded PYSP initiative (jointly managed by RRes and EMBRAPA). This level of synergy is necessary if the complex challenges facing agriculture in Brazil are to be met and the translation of solutions to be effective.
Organisations
- Rothamsted Research (Lead Research Organisation)
- Federal University of Viçosa (Collaboration)
- Justus Liebig University Giessen (Collaboration)
- Royal Holloway, University of London (Collaboration)
- Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Collaboration)
- Embrapa (Brazilian Agri Res Corp) (Project Partner)
Publications
Bresso E
(2016)
GPCRs from fusarium graminearum detection, modeling and virtual screening - the search for new routes to control head blight disease.
in BMC bioinformatics
Bresso E
(2016)
Structure-based virtual screening of hypothetical inhibitors of the enzyme longiborneol synthase-a potential target to reduce Fusarium head blight disease.
in Journal of molecular modeling
Figueroa M
(2018)
A review of wheat diseases-a field perspective.
in Molecular plant pathology
Kettles G. J.
(2019)
Analysis of small RNA silencing in the interactions between wheat and an exclusively apoplastic fungal pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici
in MOLECULAR PLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS
Kettles GJ
(2019)
sRNA Profiling Combined With Gene Function Analysis Reveals a Lack of Evidence for Cross-Kingdom RNAi in the Wheat - Zymoseptoria tritici Pathosystem.
in Frontiers in plant science
King R
(2017)
Annotation of Fusarium graminearum (PH-1) Version 5.0.
in Genome announcements
Machado A. K.
(2018)
Analysis of
Fusarium graminearum pangenome
in PHYTOPATHOLOGY
Machado A. K.
(2019)
Exploring HIGS technology for reducing Fusarium graminearum infection in model and crop plants
in MOLECULAR PLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS
Machado AK
(2018)
RNAi as an emerging approach to control Fusarium head blight disease and mycotoxin contamination in cereals.
in Pest management science
| Title | A collection of postcards |
| Description | A collection of postcard highlighting the importance of Fusarium and the research on-going at Rothamsted were prepared for the Fusarium one-day event held at Rothamsted in July 2016. These postcards were disseminated to the wider public and key stakeholders through this event and follow-on activities. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | These postcards have made the Fusarium disease problems on crop plants and the subsequent detrimental affects on food and feed industries farm far more accessible to the general public, potiticians and the Agri-Industry. |
| Title | Effector discover timeline, HIGS, BSMV-VOX and protein-protein interactions |
| Description | The VCU team at Rothamsted Research was commissioned to provide the following artwork to improve knowledge transfer to less specialist audiences - A timeline showing the progression of filamentous plant pathogen effector prediction and identification from the pregenomic era to the present day. - A simplified version of how host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) is thought works in plants - A simplified version of how the transient Barley Stripe Mosaic Virus - protein overexpression - BSMV-VOX technology works in plants - A simplified version of three different protein-protein interaction techniques. This artwork has already appeared in the review article by Kanja and Hammond-Kosack (2020) Proteinaceous effector discovery and characterization in filamentous plant pathogens. Molecular Plant Pathology 21, 1353-1376 |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | This artwork will be used in future scientific outreach activities to non-specialist audiences . |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.1111/mpp.12980 |
| Title | Fusarium and cereal cartoons |
| Description | A Fusarium cartoon was produced that portrayed the risk of Fusarium-borne diseases to cereals and the problems associated with current control strategies. The cartoon progresses to explain new GM and non-GM mediated approaches to stop Fusarium. In addition, the cartoon depicts the mechanism behind how host-induced gene silencing can be used to combat fungal disease, in a simplified manner assessable to the general public. This cartoon has now been translated into Portuguese and is to be used by Embrapa-Trigo at a national agricultural show in March 2017. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | The cartoon was used at the Fusarium event for the general public in 2016 and at the Cereals 2016 event. It has helped the general public and the Agri-Industry understand the huge Fusarium disease problem globally and the potential for using Host induced gene silencing (HIGS) for disease control. |
| URL | http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/system/files/How%20to%20sustainably%20control%20Fusarium.pdf |
| Title | Fusarium science cartoons and infographics text |
| Description | An eight page infographic text with ten cartoons was devised to explain the Fusarium disease risk in cereal production, how 10 years of related Fusarium - Arabidopsis research had lead to several major scientific breakthroughs as well as identify new ways to control this serious disease problem |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | The cartoons and other images devised have been used in various scientific outreach events including Cereal in 2016 and the Fusarium event in 2016. |
| Description | A Brazilian reference genome for wheat infecting fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum has been generated and variation data between Brazilian isolates and isolates from other parts of the world displayed. The conserved core proteome shared by all the Brazilian isolates and the isolate PH-1 originating from North America has been predicted. Draft genomes for the four other wheat infecting Fusarium species prevalent in Southern Brazilian wheat crops have been obtained. Gene annotation has commenced is now completed. the construction of the F. graminearum pan- genome is underway in the follow on main project. Transgenic wheat plants expressing two different host-induced gene silencing constructs (HIGS) have been generated. Sufficient seed is available from the T2 generation for the initial plant inoculation experiments to be done controlled environmental conditions. Fungal spores have been detected above field crops in Brazil by sampling the air using a drone (UAVs) The pan-genome of Fusarium graminearum has been thoroughly investigated and completed using full genome sequence information from 24 isolates sequenced (16 Brazilian, 8 North American). The pangenome is predicted to contain 14,798 genes, whilst the core genome contains 13,000 genes, i.e. genes found in all isolates. In total, 653 genes were found in one or more other strains but not in the global reference PH-1 genome. The secretome is predicted to be encoded by 902 genes, of which 784 genes represent the core. Within the predicted effector subset, 161 genes were assigned to the core and 35 to the variable part of the genome. Also predicted in the pan-genome was the presence of 9 new secondary metabolites cluster not found in the PH-1 genome. Using two different Arabidopsis leaf infection bioassays, we have revealed that the vesicle trafficking gene Min7 when mutated in two different ways leads to dramatically enhanced susceptibility to Fusarium graminearum. Whereas the independent mutation of 12 other vesicle trafficking genes did not alter the interaction outcome. Min7 is an immunity-associated vesicle traffic regulator which was previous only known to be targeted by the bacterial effector HopM1. Several different cellular mechanisms are proposed to be controlled by MIN7 including plant plasma membrane integrity, extracellular (apoplastic) water content levels and the cargoeing of various metabolites and molecules to the plant cell surface. The wheat homologue of Min7 has been identified and BSMV-VIGS constructs have been produced to silence A ., B and D genome MIN7 homoeologues in wheat and test for altered susceptibility to Fusarium was completed. Silencing of MIN7 in wheat also led to increased susceptibility. Additional transgenic wheat HIGS lines were generated in the cultivar Bobwhite by co-bombardment. In total, 50 independent lines harbour the chitin synthetase RNAi silencing construct and 36 independent lines harbour the cytochrome P450 sterol 14a-demethylase/ Tri6 /Tri5 RNAi silencing construct have been generated. Transformation lines harbouring just the antibiotic selection gene were also selected. Gene copy numbers in the T0 generation ranged from zero to ~35, with a high proportion harbouring < 5 copies. T1 plants from each line have been tested using a newly devised high throughput wheat hypocotyl - F. graminearum infection bioassay. A wide range of disease outcomes were observed. The most promising reduced disease severity lines with low to moderate gene copy numbers have been selected for re-testing in the T2 generation. In July 2018 a visit was made to the EMBRAPA Trigo in Brazil, to discuss the forthcoming GM field trial. A trial site was chosen close by the main buildings which will permit the use of irrigation if required. The permits to export GM Arabidopsis and wheat seeds from the UK to Brazil are now in place. This took a full year to complete. 35S promoter driven chitin synthetase RNAi silencing construct and cytochrome P450 sterol 14a-demethylase/ Tri6 /Tri5 RNAi silencing constructs were transformed into Arabidopsis Col-0 and T3 homozygous plants testing for responses to F. graminearum infection commenced in October 2018 and is still underway using the leaf bioassay. Ten F. graminearum genes either required either for virulence or considered to be essential for life were carefully selected. HIGS constructs were generated by direct DNA synthesised and transformed into Arabidopsis Columbia erecta. A newly available seed coat specific dsRED T-DNA vector was used to simplify the recovery of the primary transformants. Testing of the T2 generation commenced in December 2018 using the leaf bioassay and replicated experiments are still ongoing. Ten air samples for continuous spore trapping were purchases in the UK and shipped to Brazil for testing in the 2018-2019 field at various locations. The species specific diagnostic PCR assays are still in progress. Due to the high degree of sequence relatedness found between the five Fusarium species found in wheat fields in Southern Brazil, a number of different target sequences have been selected and are still being tested using a large Fusarium species / isolate collection as well as reference species isolates purchased from CABI. |
| Exploitation Route | To develop a novel way to control Fusarium Head blight (FHB) disease in wheat fields in Southern Brazil. 2020 update - based on the negative HIGS results obtained in both the UK and Brazil, it is highly unlikely this initial aspiration will be possible to fulfil via the use of this technology. The genome sequence for the various Fusarium species causing FHB disease on wheat in Brazil, will be exceptionally useful for the development of Fusarium species specific PCR based diagnostic tests. The genome sequence for 16 Fusarium graminearum strains from Brazil has been a major contribution to the development of a global pan- genome for this species. As a result , it has been possible to define the core and variable parts of the predicted proteome. Therefore control measures developed in the future should focus on targeting and disrupting the function of the core proteome. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Education,Environment |
| Description | A FAIR community resource for pathogens, hosts and their interactions to enhance global food security and human health |
| Amount | £557,820 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/S020020/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2019 |
| End | 06/2022 |
| Description | BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme Grant |
| Amount | £16,000,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2017 |
| End | 03/2022 |
| Description | Bilateral BBSRC-EMBRAPA - Disease risk forecasting, NGS and HIGS |
| Amount | £500,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/N018095/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2016 |
| End | 06/2019 |
| Description | Development of new tools to detect and quantify five wheat infecting Fusarium species for use in Southern Brazil |
| Amount | £9,965 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture Previously: UK-Brazil Partnership for Yield Stability & Protection in a Changing Climate (PYSP - N8085) |
| Organisation | Rothamsted Research |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2018 |
| End | 03/2019 |
| Description | Jade Smith - Investigating fungal pathogen effector localisation within plant cells - SWBioDTP 2023-2027 |
| Amount | £130,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 229139594 SWBio DTP Rothamsted studentship - University of Bath |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2023 |
| End | 09/2027 |
| Description | The Genetics Society (UK) - Travel award to attend the IS-MPMI Congress Glasgow 14-18 th July 2019 |
| Amount | £750 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Rothamsted Research |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2019 |
| End | 07/2019 |
| Description | Understanding the mechanisms underlying Host Induced Gene Silencing (HIGS) in Fusarium graminearum (BSPP) Michael Grimwade-Mann (summer bursary project) |
| Amount | £2,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Rothamsted Research |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2018 |
| End | 09/2018 |
| Title | Ensembl Invertebrates, especially Ensembl Fungi, Ensembl Protist and Ensembl bacteria |
| Description | Ensembl Invertebrates provides annotated genome and a range of simple and advanced query tools to explore the genomes of numerous pathogenic micro-organisms. The genes curated into the Pathogen Host Interactions database (PHI-base), are directly available within the genome browsers of individual species. This data is colour coded to provide the phenotypic outcome from wet biology experimentation and is linked back to the full curated data sets available within PHI-base. The PHI genes can also be searched for within the BioMart Tool across multiple species and by using nine published high level phenotype terms. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Improved comparative genomic analysis of multiple pathogenic and non-pathogenic species. Hypothesis testing. Providing up-to-date novel functional data into poorly annotated genomes. |
| URL | https://fungi.ensembl.org/index.html |
| Title | PHI-base: Pathogen-Host Interactions Database |
| Description | PHI-base (www.phi-base.org) is a knowledge database accessed by researchers in over 125 countries. PHI-base contains expertly curated molecular and biological information on genes proven to affect the outcome of pathogen-host interactions reported in peer reviewed research articles. Genes not affecting the disease interaction phenotype are also curated. PHI-base data is linked to the genome browsers and advanced query tools in ENSEMBL and FungiDB. The data content provided comes from >3000 manually curated references and reports information on 6438 genes from 263 pathogens tested on 194 hosts (plant, animal, others) in 11340 interactions. Direct targets of pathogen effector proteins are also included. Recently the PHI-base team in collaboration with the PomBase team based at the University of Cambridge have developed an online author curation tool called PHI-Canto |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Over 250 peer reviewed publications have cited PHI-base use in their article and cites one or more of the PHI-base references |
| URL | http://www.phi-base.org |
| Description | EMBRAPA Brazil - Bioinformatics Laboratory, Cenargen Brasilia |
| Organisation | Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The genomes of 16 well-characterised Fusarium graminearum (Fg) (15-ADON) isolates, eight each from Parana and Rio Grande du Sul states, were sequenced by Illumina paired end reads. The highly virulent isolate CML3066, with the best sequence coverage (x180), was nominated as the Brazilian reference isolate. We have subsequently created the pan genome for Fg using this data and an additional six global Fg stains including the global reference strain PH-1 originally from the USA. The focus at Rothamsted was then the characterisation of genes predicted to code for small secreted proteins or predicted to reside with discrete secondary metabolite clusters. The sequence variation in the known Fg pathogenicity and virulence genes documented in the PHI-base database has also been explored. To complement these comparative genome analyses, the relative disease causing ability of the 16 Brazilian isolates compared to the global reference strain has been explored in detail. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The EMBRAPA bioinformatics team have applied their expertise in transmembrane spanning proteins to explore the predicted G-protein coupled receptor, 7 transmembrane spanning protein superfamiliy. This superfamiliy contains > 100 genes and some of there are now know to be required for the disease causing ability of Fg. |
| Impact | Three publications have already arisen from the initial joint genome data analysis on the Fg PH-1 genome, which was done in preparation for the main project.. Bresso, E., Leroux, V., Urban, M., Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Maigret, B.. and Martins, N.F. (2016) Structure-based virtual screening of hypothetical inhibitors of the enzyme longiborneol synthase, a possible target to reduce Fusarium head blight disease. Journal of Molecular Modeling 22, 1-13. Martins, N.F., Bresso, E., Togawa, R. C., Urban, M., Antoniw, J., Maigret, B. and Hammond-Kosack, K.E. (2016) Searching for novel targets to control wheat head blight disease. I- Protein identification, 3D modeling and virtual screening. Advances in Microbiology 6 (11), 811-830. Doi 10.4236/aim.2016.611079. Bresso, E., Togawa, R. C., Hammond-Kosack, K.E., Urban, M., Maigret, B. and Martins, N.F (2016). GPCRs from Fusarium graminearum, detection, modeling and virtual screening - the search for new routes to control head blight disease. BMC Bioinformatics 17 (18), 39. PMID: 28105916. These joint studies were multi-disciplinary and involved bioinformatics and protein modelling. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | EMBRAPA Brazil - Passo fundo - Trigo (wheat) team |
| Organisation | Embrapa Trigo |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The Rothamsted Team has sequenced the genomes of 16 Brazilian strains of the Fusarium head blight disease causing strain F. graminearum (Fg) and has now created a pan -genome for this species by comparing with the available Fg genomes for 6 six additional global isolates including the reference isolate PH-I. This has indicated that the Fg pan genome is relatively closed. The Rothamsted Team has stably transformed the Brazilian commercial wheat cultivar Guaramin for the first time |
| Collaborator Contribution | The EMBRAPA Trigo team have generated various transgenic Arabidopsis harboring different Fg HIGS constructs. The EMBRAPA Team have also screened and identified lettuce cultivars that are fully susceptible to the nominated reference Brazilian strain. |
| Impact | A major display at the annual Cereals event held in Cambridgeshire in June 2016 on the new HIGS and SIGS technologies for the control of FHB disease in wheat . A open evening public event entitled @ Healthy Crops- Healthy Food done at Rothamsted Research in July 2016. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | EMBRAPA LabEx Common Interest Project |
| Organisation | Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Different members of the Rothamsted Research team trained the visiting senior EMBRAPA LabEx scientists in bioinformatics and molecular genetics skills relating to fungal pathogens which infect wheat. The Rothamsted team and especially Professor John Lucas advised on European research labs and companies to visit to obtain relevant new knowledge and techniques and initiate new collaborations for EMBRAPA. |
| Collaborator Contribution | EMBRAPA Brazil established a Common Interest project and an office at Rothamsted. In addition to conducting and publishing original research the visiting Senior Fellow, Dr Alex Amaral established an extensive collaborative network at Rothamsted, throughout the UK and Europe. |
| Impact | Visiting senior fellow Dr Amaral whilst at Rothamsted helped to facilitate the joint BBSRC -EMBRAPA wheat workshop held in Londrinas Brazil in May 2011 which subsequently lead to the joint wheat research pump priming call in 2014/2015 and the subsequent main call |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | Investigating HIGS and SIGS using the F. graminearum - wheat interaction |
| Organisation | Justus Liebig University Giessen |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Rothamsted Research team has discussed in depth the data and techniques in the Giessen group's various publications at the BSPP autumn conference at the University of Nottingham. The post-doc on the bilateral BBSRC-EMPRAPA project has visited the Giessen group for 2 weeks in late 2017 to be taught the various techniques. The post doc returned with specific F. graminaerum strains and Arabidopsis transgenic lines to establish these HIGS and SIGS techniques at Rothamsted Research during 2018. A series of joint experiments are underway. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The head of the Guissen group gave an oral presentation at the BSPP autumn 2017 conference at the University of Nottingham and then discussed in depth their results and techniques with the Rothamsted Resarch. The Guissen group hosted the Rothamsted Research post - doc for two weeks in late 2017 and trained them in specialist in vitro and in planta HIGS and SIGS techniques involving F. graminearum, Arabidopsis and barley leaves. A series of joint experiments are underway. |
| Impact | Specialist training. Sharing of experimental protocols. Exchange of published and unpublished Fusarium strains and Arabidopsis lines. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Molecular and biological characterisation of Fusarium species and isolates collected from infected wheat fields in Southern Brazil |
| Organisation | Federal University of Viçosa |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Rothamsted team has used a next generation sequencing approach to explore the genomes of the five Fusarium Head Blight causing species in Southern Brazil, namely F. graminearum, F. meridionale, F.cortaderiae, F. austroamericanum and F. asiaticum.. The Rothamsted team are currently focussing on investigating and defining the core and variable parts of the pan genome of F. graminearum. The Rothamsted team also assembled and annotated the F. meridionale genome and has given this data to the University team for further analysis. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The University team had collected field isolates during 2009 - 2012 and provided the 24 Fusarium isolates covering the five required species. The University team had also characterised the disease causing ability of each isolate on the floral spikes of various Brazilian wheat genotypes. Currently, the University team is exploring the genomes of the various F. meridionale, |
| Impact | The two main output delivered so far has been (1) the biological characterisation of the 24 / 5 species collection for disease causing ability on both Brazilian and non-Brazilian wheat genotypes and (2) the 24 newly assembled and annotated genomes covering the five most important FHB causing species in Southern Brazil. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | siRNA oligo-mediated silencing of genes in plant pathogenic fungi and their cereal hosts - Royal Holloway - Dr Laurence Bindschedler |
| Organisation | Royal Holloway, University of London |
| Department | School of Biological Sciences |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Rothamsted Research team has designed and generated single gene deletion mutants for a conserved effector in two wheat infecting fungal species, namely Fusarium graminearum and Zymoseptoria tritici. The conserved effector was selected because this small secreted protein is required for pathogenicity by the wheat and the barley attacking species of powdery mildew, respectively Blumeria graminis f sp tritici and Bg fsp hordei . Characterisation of the two sets of mutants both in vitro and in planta has also been carried out at Rothamsted Research. Our collaboartors at Royal Holloway have neither the facilities nor required government licences to carry out these types of experiments. The PhD student visits Rothamsted for a few days each month to complete specific experiments. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our collaborator has been silencing the same effector in trhe wheat powdery mildew fungus Blumeria graminis f sp tritici, using synthetic oligos. Thus confirming that this effector which is predicted to encode a specialist zinc metal protease is required for the infection of both the wheat and the barley infecting powdery mildew species. The Royal Holloway team are also exploring how the expression of this effector is regulated. |
| Impact | So far only joint conference posters , eg BSPP Warwick Dec 2018, MBPP Norwich March 2019 and IS-MPMI Glasgow July 2019 |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Cereal Show 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Cereals A Fusarium Head Blight exhibit was situated at the Rothamsted Research stand (Cereals 2016). This exhibit portrayed the impact of Fusarium on wheat production and the associated risk of mycotoxin contamination. It highlighted the need for new approaches to tackle this hazardous fungal disease. During the two day event, knowledge of the approaches taken at Rothamsted, including those within the associated fellowship, were described to farmers, agronomists, the press and industry. This exhibit commonly promoted the discussion of the use of GM and non-GM mediated approaches to control fungal diseases. This two day event is attended by > 25,000 visitors (approximately 10% from overseas) from the AgIndustries, AgriFood and Farming sectors, as well as the media, politicians and NGOs. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Cereals 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Demonstration plots and posters |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/events/2016/1506-cereals/ |
| Description | Cereals 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Demonstration plots and posters |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/events/cereals-2017 |
| Description | Dissemination of project and results to date to EMBRAPA Trigo, Brazilian Farmers, Agronomists, AgIndustry and their Milling and Baking companies + links to many University Campus in Brazil as well as Kansas State University, USA |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Kim Hammond-Kosack gave a 30 min invited plenary presentation at an EMBRAPA Trigo organised event in Passo Fundo, Southern Brazil in June 2018. The event was the 12th Meeting of the Brazilian Wheat and Triticale Research Commission (RCBPTT) . This 3 day event had an audiences of ~ 350 attendees. The meeting was attended by EMBRAPA scientists from many of their centres, numerous Brazilian Farmers, Agronomists, various AgIndustry companies both breeding and Ag chemical and several Brazilian Milling, Baking companies, and wheat importers and exports. Also present were government regulators involved in determining the levels of grain and food contamination by mycotoxins. The entire event was linked to many University Campus in Brazil as well as Kansas State University, USA. The second invited plenary speaker was Professor Barbara Valent, Kansas State University, USA. After both plenary presentations there was a 30 minute discussion and Q and A session hosted by Professor Mauricio Fernandez (Embrapa Trigo) focussing on the control of Fusarium Head blight and Wheat Blast in wheat by breeding , cultural and emerging GM and GE technologies. During the event Kim Hammond-Kosack visited the private wheat breeding company Biotrigo to see the facilities available for wheat improvement, especially the control of fungal pathogens. Folow up conversations have continued with Biotrigo since this visit. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Fusarium event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This one day Fusarium event was hosted at the Rothamsted Research (July 2016) educated the general public and interested stakeholders in the impact of Fusarium-borne diseases and the associated risk of mycotoxin contamination. It highlighted deficiencies is current approaches to prevent Fusarium-borne diseases and the need for new approaches to tackle this hazardous fungal disease. During this event, knowledge of the approaches taken at Rothamsted, including those within the associated fellowship, were described to the general public, farmers and agronomists. This exhibit commonly promoted the discussion of the use of GM and non-GM mediated approaches to control fungal diseases, and also described the background behind the use of host-induced gene silencing as a GM approach to fight fungal disease. This event was from 4 to 8 pm and included a wheat and soybean field tour to visit and discuss three experiments, the running of a virtual laboratory for fungal pathogen transformation and analysis, a bioinformatics display and game to analyse sequenced fungal genomes, poster and live exhibits on the effect of fungal pathogens on various crops plant species and post harvest fruits and a poster display and talk on using GM and non-GM approaches to fight fungal diseases. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Government Open Access article (Jan 2020), page 370 entitled ' Fighting infectious diseases: Protecting the global wheat crop with big data analysis and knowledge networks' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This article was written to increase awareness of the importance of crop plant health amongst UK and European politicians, leaders of industry and leaders of third sector organisations. The article had a focus on the effects of disease causing pathogens on the No 1 arable crop in Europe namely wheat and how experimentation is increasing becoming predictive through using big data sets and network analyses. The two BBSRC funded resources highlighted in this online and hard copy article are the Pathogen-Host Interactions database (PHI-base) and the knowledge graphical visualisation tool Knetminer. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=e7e6... |
| Description | Invited guest Lecture - University of Bath - Healthy humans, healthy animals, healthy crops, healthy food and healthy natural ecosystems. What's the problem ? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture focussing on the importance of different beneficial and detrimental fungi on society and the global economy. Examples were given for the major crop species in particular fungi that cause diseases on wheat and maize crops, how fungicide resistance emerges in plant, human and farmed animals and how fungi can be used to produce a wide range of high value metabolites and proteins. The PHI-base database was also explained as away to keep track of the genes required by fungi to cause disease. This special lecture concluded with a lively debate with the students many of which were international MSc students on how to improve plant healthy and make crop yield more resilient. We also discussed career pathways in science and the differences and similarities between doing research in a company, for a charity or at an academic institution. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | New Scientist Live Excel London - Oct 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The Fusarium team in collaboration with the PHI-base, Knetminer, EMBL-EBI, the BSPP and the Wellcome Connecting Science teams devised and presented a large display at New Scientist Live (ExCel London, October 2022), providing posters, hands-on interactive activities, and career advice on the topics of disease and mycotoxin control, DNA extraction, genomics, biocuration, and network analysis. On display table No1 were wheat plants infected with Fusarium head blight, infected and non-infected grains, the chemical structure of the DON mycotoxin as well as wheat plants infected with the Take-all fungus, petri dishes with fungal cultures and a binocular microscope to aid detailed viewing of infected plant material and /or the fungus. On display table 6 was a newly devised interactive game that allowed the visitor to learn about current disease control strategies and future NextGen options based around genomics, functional genomics and/or effector biology for ten globally important arable crop, horticultural and animal husbandry disease problems. FHB disease of wheat was one of the disease problems that could be selected. In total, 21,500 visitors attended the event (one day for school-age children and two days for the general public), and ~1,000 visitors explored our display, with ~20% staying for 1-2 hours. We had a diverse team consisting of post-docs, PhD students and undergraduates across six nationalities. Include in the display team for all 3 days from this project were Martin Urban and Kim Hammond-Kosack. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://live.newscientist.com/ |
| Description | Rothamsted Festival of Ideas 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | It was our Institute's (Rothamsted Research) 175th birthday and we were celebrating with a Festival of Ideas. The event was free and open to all with something for everyone, from young to old. Our Festival brought together activities, exhibitions and demonstrations to immerse general public in the science of feeding the world. Numerous live plant displays and demonstration have been organised, as well as posters, interactive displays, tractor rides, talks, games and a trove of other astonishing exhibits describing our proud history of ground-breaking discoveries, from crop treatment to crop protection, from statistical interpretation to soils management. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/events/rothamsted-festival-ideas |