Location: Crop Production and Pest Control Research
Project Number: 5020-21220-014-026-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 15, 2025
End Date: Sep 14, 2027
Objective:
1. Stabilize NPR1, a positive regulator of salicylic acid signaling, to promote FHB resistance and reduce DON accumulation.
2. Destabilize NPR3, a negative regulator of NPR1 and salicylic acid signaling, to promote FHB resistance and reduce DON accumulation.
Approach:
1. Test the hypothesis that stabilizing NPR1, and conversely destabilizing NPR3, will promote wheat defenses to limit FHB and DON accumulation
2. Test whether (i) RNAi-mediated knockdown of Ubiquitin ligases (UBEs) and deubiquitinases (DUBs) activity that control the stability of NPR1 and NPR3 can enhanced resistance to FHB and reduce DON accumulation, (ii) mutations in UBEs and DUBs can provide non-GMO alleles that can be utilized by breeding programs to enhance FHB resistance in wheat. TILLING mutants that cover homeologs of these genes have been identified in tetraploid wheat. The response to Fusarium graminearum in these variants will be characterized and wheat lines containing mutant combinations at more than one homeologous gene loci will be developed and characterized with respect to their response to Fusarium graminearum.