Location: Plant Science Research
2020 Annual Report
Accomplishments
1. Discovery of microbe-dependent hybrid vigor in maize. Hybrid vigor is the superior yield observed in hybrids compared to their inbred parents. Hybrid vigor is the basis of commercial corn production in the USA. The physiological and genetic mechanisms linking genomic hybridization to phenotypic superiority remain poorly understood. Nearly all research into the subject thus far has focused on molecular and quantitative genetic processes, with mixed success; meanwhile the influence of the environment on hybrid vigor has been mostly ignored. In collaboration with North Carolina State University scientists, ARS researchers at Raleigh, North Carolina were able to show that when soil microbes are absent or reduced, hybrid vigor of maize is eliminated or greatly weakened. We demonstrated the generality of this phenomenon in three distinct microbial environments: in the lab using a synthetic community of seven bacterial strains, in a growth chamber using a complex microbial community derived from soil, and in the field using four different methods of soil fumigation. This striking, repeatable pattern indicates, for the first time, that hybrid vigor arises, in part, from interactions with microbial neighbors. This finding will be of outstanding interest to biologists across a wide diversity of fields, including both micro- and macro-biologists. In addition, hybrid vigor is the reason hybrid corn dominates corn production in the USA and has been a cornerstone of global food security for decades. Therefore, ARS researchers at Raleigh, North Carolina, findings have high potential to lead to new methods of harnessing the power of hybrid vigor to improve agricultural productivity.
Review Publications
Tuleski, T., Kimball, J., Do Amaral, F.P., Pereira Federal, T.P., Tadra-Sfeir, M.Z., De Oliveira Pedrosa, F., De Souza, E.M., Balint Kurti, P.J., Monteiro, R.A., Stacey, G. 2019. Herbaspirillum rubrisubalbicans as a phytopathogenic model to study the immune system of Sorghum bicolor. New Phytologist. 33:235-246.
He, Y., Christensen, S.A., Karre, S., Johal, G., Balint Kurti, P.J. 2019. A maize polygalacturonase functions as a suppressor of the hypersensitive response and programmed cell death in maize. Biomed Central (BMC) Plant Biology. 19:310.
Balint Kurti, P.J. 2019. The plant hypersensitive response; concepts, control and consequences. Molecular Plant Pathology. 20:1163-1178.
Martin, L., Rucker, E., Thomason, W., Holland, J.B., Wisser, R., Balint Kurti, P.J. 2019. Validation of multiple disease resistance QTL from chromosome segment substitution population in F2:3 family populations. G3, Genes/Genomes/Genetics. 9:2905-2912.
Doblas-Ibanez, P., Deng, K., Vasquez, M., Giese, L., Cobine, P., Kolkman, J., King, H., Jamann, T., Balint Kurti, P.J., De La Fuente, L., Nelson, R., Mackey, D., Smith, L. 2019. Dominant, heritable resistance to Stewart’s wilt in maize is associated with an enhanced vascular defense response to infection with P. stewartii. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. 32:1581-1597.
Kimball, J., Cui, Y., Chen, D., Brown, P., Rooney, W., Stacey, G., Balint Kurti, P.J. 2019. Identification of QTL for target leaf spot resistance in Sorghum bicolor and investigation of relationships between disease resistance and variation in the MAMP response. Scientific Reports. 9:1-9.
Samira, R., Zhang, X., Kimball, J., Cui, Y., Stacey, G., Balint Kurti, P.J. 2019. Quantifying MAMP-induced production of reactive oxygen species in sorghum and maize. Bio-protocol. https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.3304.
Wagner, M., Busby, P., Balint Kurti, P.J. 2019. Analysis of leaf microbiome composition of near-isogenic maize lines differing in broad-spectrum disease resistance. New Phytologist. 225:2152-2165.
Sun, Y., Zhu, Y., Balint Kurti, P.J., Wang, G. 2020. Fine-tuning immunity: Players and regulators for plant NLRs. Trends in Plant Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2020.02.008.
Wang, Y., Martins, L., Sermons, S.M., Balint Kurti, P.J. 2020. Genetic and physiological characterization of a Calcium deficiency phenotype in maize. G3, Genes/Genomes/Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.120.401069.
Camargo Senhorinho, H.J., Dacal Coan, M.M., Marino, T.P., Kuki, M.C., Barth Pinto, R.J., Scapim, C.A., Holland, J.B. 2019. Genome-wide association study of popping expansion in tropical popcorn and field corn germplasm. Crop Science. 59:2007–2019.
Stagnati, L., Rahjoo, V., Samayoa, L.F., Holland, J.B., Busconi, M., Lanubile, A., Marocco, A. 2020. A genome-wide association study to understand the effect of Fusarium verticillioides infection on seedlings of a maize diversity panel. G3, Genes/Genomes/Genetics. 10:1685-1696.
Mcfarland, B.A., Alkhalifah, N., Bohn, M., Bubert, J., Buckler IV, E.S., Ciampitti, I., Edwards, J.W., Ertl, D., Gage, J.L., Falcon, C.M., Flint Garcia, S.A., Gore, M., Graham, C., Hirsch, C., Holland, J.B., Hood, E., Hooker, D., Jarquin, D., Kaeppler, S., Knoll, J.E., Kruger, G., Lauter, N.C., Lee, E.C., Lima, D.C., Lorenz, A., Lynch, J.P., Mckay, J., Miller, N.D., Moose, S.P., Murray, S.C., Nelson, R., Poudyal, C., Rocheford, T., Rodriguez, O., Romay, M., Schnable, J.C., Schnable, P.S., Scully, B.T., Sekhon, R., Silverstein, K., Singh, M., Smith, M., Spalding, E.P., Springer, N., Thelen, K., Thomison, P., Tuinstra, M., Wallace, J., Walls, R., Wills, D., Wisser, R.J., Xu, W., Yeh, C., De Leon, N. Maize genomes to fields (G2F): 2014 –2017 field seasons: genotype, phenotype, climatic, soil and inbred ear image datasets. BMC Research Notes. 13,71 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-020-4922-8.
Wisser, R.J., Fang, Z., Holland, J.B., Teixeira, J.E., Dougherty, J., Weldekidan, T., De Leon, N., Flint-Garcia, S.A., Lauter, N.C., Murray, S.C., Xu, W., Hallauer, A. 2019. The genomic basis for short-term evolution of environmental adaptation in maize. Genetics. 213(4):1479-1494. https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.119.302780.
Guo, T., Yu, X., Li, X., Zhang, H., Zhu, C., Flint-Garcia, S.A., McMullen, M.D., Holland, J.B., Szalma, S.J., Wisser, R., Yu, J. 2019. Optimal designs for genomic selection in hybrid crops. Molecular Plant. 12(3):390-401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2018.12.022.
Morales, L., Repka, A.C., Swarts, K.L., Stafstrom, W.C., He, Y., Sermons, S.M., Yang, Q., Lopez-Zuniga, L.O., Rucker, E., Thomason, W.E., Nelson, R.J., Balint Kurti, P.J. 2020. Genotypic and phenotypic characterization of a large, diverse population of maize near-isogenic lines. Plant Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.14787.
