Fusarium Blight Research

This is important research that may result in new tools to combat the Fusarium blight.

CSREES Research Results

Scientists Sequence a Cereal Killer

Media Contact:Jennifer Martin (202) 720-8188

November 2, 2007 By Stacy Kish

Important cereal crops, such as wheat and barley, are susceptible to a fungus, called Fusarium graminearum that is responsible for head blight disease. Researchers recently sequenced and annotated the genome of this fungus, shedding light on how it is able to survive in rapidly changing environments. The new knowledge could lead to new ways to combat the harmful pathogen, which has caused more than $10 billion in crop losses over the past 10 years.

USDA scientist H. Corby Kistler, along with Christina Cuomo of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and colleagues at a consortium of universities and labs around the world, used a whole genome shotgun approach, a faster approach that involves shredding and replicating the genome in order to sequence the Fusarium graminearum genome, bypassing the need for a physical map. The scientists found very few repetitive sequences in the genome. Instead, they discovered that most mutations occur at...(complete article here).