Location: Crop Production and Protection
Project Number: 0500-00053-005-220-G
Project Type: Grant
Start Date: May 1, 2026
End Date: Apr 30, 2030
Objective:
Identify and validate chloroplast stress response pathways as novel targets for enhancing Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance in wheat and barley. Using bioinformatics, expression profiling across diverse cultivars including transformable genotypes, and functional genetics in model systems, characterize how chloroplast resilience mechanisms mediated by RSH1, VIPP1, and heat shock proteins contribute to deoxynivalenol tolerance.
Approach:
Phylogenetic and synteny-based bioinformatics will identify wheat and barley orthologs of chloroplast stress genes. RT-qPCR expression profiling in an expanded cultivar panel including Sumai 3, Bobwhite, Fielder, and RB07 will quantify DON-responsive gene induction. Functional validation using Arabidopsis rsh1 and vipp1 mutants will establish pathway architecture for breeding applications.