Issue 24
Prairie Grains Magazine
1999

Prairie Grains is the official publication of the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers, North Dakota Grain Growers Association, South Dakota Wheat, Inc. and the Minnesota Barley Growers Assocation.

Copyright Prairie
Grains Magazine
Nov/Dec  1999

Gene transformation: High-tech hope to solve scab

Some crop scientists conducting research under the U.S. Wheat and
Barley Scab Initiative are employing a high-tech defensive strategy in the fight against scab in wheat and barley, called gene transformation. 

Under the same umbrella as biotechnology and genetic engineering, gene transformation is the process of introducing genes into plants by methods which by-pass the sexual seed production process (see graphic on transformation method). Essentially, it is a process by which genes (the parts of a cell that provide blueprints for inherited traits) are "cut" from the cells of one organism and "pasted" and integrated into the cells of another organism. Once the cells are transformed, they are grown into new plants capable of "expressing" a desired characteristic. 

Biotech efforts in scab research are threefold: 1) identify genes in wheat and barley that are involved in the scab defense response, by mapping scab resistance genes with molecular markers, road signs or tags to mark regions of the plant chromosomes that carry scab resistance genes; 2) identify and insert antifungal genes in wheat and barley from other wheat and barley germplasm or other organisms, including bacteria and fungi; 3) identify and insert genes that can detoxify deoxynivalenol (DON), a contaminating byproduct of scab.

A comprehensive look at biotech efforts to solve scab may be found in the feature article "Gene transformation: high-tech hope to solve scab" online at the U.S. Wheat and Barley FHB Initiative's web site, www.scabusa.org. The Initiative's most recent newsletter may be found online at this web site as well.

SCENE FROM STAR WARS?

Actually, this is the product of collaborative research by Bill Bushnell, USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Lab, St. Paul, Minn., and Ron Skadsen, USDA-ARS Barley and Malt Lab, Madison, Wisc.  They are using a genetically transformed strain of Fusarium graminearum (the Fusarium head blight fungus) containing a gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP), shown here.  The GFP gives a green fluorescence to the fungus when viewed with the microscope under blue light. In preliminary trials, the GFP has greatly improved their ability to trace development of the fungus in infected head tissues. Their ultimate objective is to determine the principal pathways of infection in head tissues of wheat and barley.