The TRI101 story: engineering wheat and barley to resist Fusarium head blight

Abstract

Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused primarily by Fusarium graminearum, is a major disease of wheat and barley in the United States and Canada. FHB epidemics have been on the increase since 1993 and have caused severe monetary damage for the growers and seed industry. Along with reduced yields, the presence of mycotoxins in moldy grain constitutes a major problem for the grain industry. These mycotoxins pose health hazards to humans and animals upon ingestion. The acute phytotoxicity of these mycotoxins and their occurrence in plant tissues correlates with their role in pathogenesis and the production of plant disease. Transgenic plants incorporating the Fusarium sporotrichioides Tri101 gene, a gene that reduces toxicity of trichothecenes, have reduced levels of disease, thus demonstrating that FHB severity and deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation can be reduced in small grains by the introduction of a toxin-modification gene.