Location: Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research
Project Number: 8044-22000-051-045-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Jul 7, 2026
End Date: Jul 6, 2027
Objective:
The objective of this project is to protect U.S. agriculture from Claviceps gigantea, a foreign, toxic corn pathogen posing a significant threat to the food and feed supply. Addressing a critical preparedness deficit in diagnostics and research, this project will establish essential pre-entry domestic resources—authenticated samples, cultures, and genomic data. This will enable robust surveillance, diagnostics, and emergency response, conducted under stringent biocontainment at USDA-ARS, to safeguard U.S. farms.
Approach:
This project will establish a national reserve of biological and genomic resources for Claviceps gigantea to enable future surveillance and diagnostics. The approach involves: 1) acquiring, preserving, and archiving authenticated biological material (sclerotia) in a national reference stockpile; 2) determining the feasibility of establishing viable laboratory cultures; and 3) generating the first draft genome sequence to identify species-specific diagnostic markers. Methods include international acquisition, various preservation techniques, culturing attempts, and de novo genomic sequencing, with contingency plans if culturing or DNA quality present challenges. All data will be shared for collaborative efforts.