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thePeorian.com
It
is perhaps the most
recognizable concept
from the ancient Chinese
military treatise, The Art of War,
found not only in military tactics
but in legal strategies, business
thinking, sporting events and
even scientific research.
Scientists at the Peoria Ag
Lab are on the frontlines of
battle with an enemy that causes
widespread crop damage,
significantly threatens food and
feed safety, and can result in
billions of dollars of economic
damage worldwide; a tiny enemy
with millions of years of invasion
experience.
“
We are looking at this
problem from many different
angles because the more we know
about the Fusarium pathogen
and other fungi that infect cereal
grains and contaminate them
with toxins, the better we can
develop the tools, or weapons,
to fight them,” says Dr. Todd
Ward, research leader for the
Bacterial Foodborne Pathogens
and Mycology Research Unit
at the Ag Lab, officially known
as the USDA Agricultural
Research Service National Center
for Agricultural Utilization
Research (NCAUR). “We have
five different research teams
addressing this issue.”
The toxins, called mycotoxins,
have long been a concern of
producers growing cereal crops
for food and feed. As agricultural
crops are increasingly tapped
as valuable renewable resources
to provide the fuels, chemicals
and products that power our
lifestyles, the tiny invaders —
fungal or otherwise — that
harm these crops can cause even
broader consequences.
An important asset for winning
the battle in the field, Ward says,
is analyzing the DNA of these
microbes, a process known as
genetic sequencing.
Ward and his colleagues have
assembled a powerful genome
sequencing lab at NCAUR so
they can determine all of the
genes that are present in an
organism (the genome). This
gives them “intelligence” on the
genetic tools these fungi use to
attack and infect plants, how they
make toxins, how they survive
and spread in fields, and how the
fungus avoids being harmed by
its own toxins.
The smaller of two sequencers
in the new lab is ideal for
sequencing larger segments
of the Fusarium genome. The
bigger allows sequencing of
multiple Fusarium genomes
at the same time, on a small
microchip. Combining the data
from both sequencers generates
significantly more power to
identify the genes responsible for
traits such as toxin production, or
aggressiveness. That knowledge
allows scientists the flexibility
to tackle research questions of
different scales in a very efficient
manner.
“
Once we’ve identified the
genes, or the weapons in its
arsenal, that allow the fungus
to operate, we can develop
countermeasures to stop it,” says
Ward. “In the past, this was an
extremely expensive and time
consuming proposition.”
Indeed. A NOVA interview
with genetic pioneer George
Church revealed that it took 15
years and $3 billion to completely
sequence the first human
genome. It now takes only a
few weeks and costs $5,000. The
changes in genetic sequencing
mirror the same phenomena as
Ag lab working to protect
future food and feed
By Kate O’Hara
The Future
