Fusarium Virulence and Plant Resistance Mechanisms: a Project within the Austrian Genome Programme Gen-au

In 2002 the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture has established the national genome programme GEN-AU (GENome Research in AUstria: http://www.gen-au.at/). The first call has brought together a broad spectrum of Austrian scientists (coordinator GA) focussing on the Fusarium problem. We proposed (as one part) that Austria should contribute 25% of the costs of sequencing the F. graminearum genome, but the panel felt that our proposal was too much dependent on the (in April 2002) not yet submitted proposal by US partners (Birren, Kistler, Xu, Trail). In the meantime a dramatically downscaled pilot-project (with only 5 of the initially 12 partner institutions remaining) has been funded (about 795.000 US dollar). In the next two years researchers from the Center of Applied Genetics (CAG) of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Vienna, the Technical University (TU) of Vienna, the Institute for Agrobiotechnology in Tulln (IFA), the Austrian Research Center Seibersdorf (ARCS), and from the wheat breeding company Saatzucht Donau will collaborate on several aspects. The following principal investigators are involved: Josef Straub, Gerhard Adam (CAG) and Robert Mach (TU) will collaborate on the development of efficient gene disruption methods for F. graminearum. Mutants will be tested for altered virulence at the IFA Tulln (Marc Lemmens) and for altered metabolite production by LC-MS-MS (Rudolf Krska, IFA Center for Analytical Chemistry). Also analytical techniques and reference materials for “masked mycotoxins” will be developed. In the group of Gerhard Adam Arabidopsis thaliana genes encoding mycotoxin inactivating enzymes will be characterized, and Marie-Theres Hauser will explore the role of zearalenone in plants (CAG). The group from ARCS will establish wheat suspension cultures and work on the identification of differentially expressed genes in wheat and the development of DNA arrays. The genetic basis of so far uncharacterized highly Fusarium resistant wheat genetic resources will be elucidated by Hermann Büerstmayr (IFA), the knowledge gained will be utilized by the commercial partner (Julia Lafferty, Saatzucht Donau) in a marker assisted backcross breeding program (QTL pryamiding). The aim of the GEN-AU program is “to secure and expand Austria’s competitiveness and ability to cooperate on an international level”. It may be of interest for US researchers, that the EU 6th framework programme is open to the participation of entities from nonmember countries on the project level on the basis of mutual benefit. 2002 National Fusarium Head Blight Forum Proceedings 2 Biotechnology QTL ANALYSIS OF FUSARIUM HEAD BLIGHT IN BARLEY USING THE CHINESE LINE ZHEDAR 2 H.A. Agrama1*, L.S. Dahleen2, R.D. Horsley3, B.J. Steffenson4, P.B. Schwarz5, A. Mesfin3, and J.D. Franckowiak3 1Dept of Plant Pathology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND; 2ARS-USDA, NCSL, Fargo, ND; 3Dept of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND; 4Dept. of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN; and 5Dept. of Cereal Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND *Corresponding Author: PH (701) 239-1345; E-mail: [email protected]