Developing climate change resilient corn and wheat to combat Fusarium disease by enhancing the plant microbiome

据预测，气候变化将增加加拿大玉米和小麦中的人类/牲畜破坏性真菌病原体，包括禾谷镰刀菌。F.禾本科植物通过花柱（穗丝）进入玉米--穗丝出现在玉米棒的顶端。丝是精子使卵子受精的通道，从而产生谷物。我们建议发现自然栖息在玉米丝上的抗镰刀菌益生菌。与人类相似，植物也被益生菌所覆盖。以前，我们证明了植物细胞，这是固定的细胞壁，保持益生菌（内生菌）是移动的，以类似于人类免疫细胞寻找和破坏病原体。然而，科学家们忽视了丝绸/风格中的益生菌。我们有两种策略来利用这一潜在的自然资源。首先，我们建议发现和测试益生菌喷雾剂，种植者可以将其应用于丝绸（玉米），并且当附近发生疾病爆发时，可以转移到小麦籽粒，以提供快速，实时的保护。 具体来说，基于我们团队最近的发现，我们建议培养和测试来自世界各地的不同玉米基因型的蚕丝益生菌，据报道这些玉米基因型对镰刀菌具有部分抗性。在一个平行的策略中，我们将对部分抗镰刀菌的玉米丝的DNA进行采样，以发现复杂的微生物亚群落（亚微生物组），作物育种者可以在以后选择这些亚群落来防止与气候变化相关的疾病爆发。这些益生菌策略还可以保护加拿大种植者免受可能因气候变化而侵入玉米丝的新病原体的侵害，因为在温暖气候（例如拉丁美洲，非洲）中的其他破坏性真菌病原体已经通过玉米丝进入玉米籽粒。我们的益生菌应该可以转移到这些地区，使我们的研究也有利于最容易受到气候变化影响的自给农民。该项目是学术界，政府和私营部门科学家之间的研究合作，旨在促进商业化投资，并为不断增长的微生物组部门培训年轻科学家。

Climate change is predicted to increase human/livestock-damaging fungal pathogens including Fusarium graminearum in Canadian corn and wheat. F. graminearum enters corn through styles (silks)-the threads that emerge at the tips of corn cobs. Silks are channels that sperm use to fertilize eggs, giving rise to grain. We propose to discover anti-Fusarium probiotics that naturally inhabit corn silks. Similar to humans, plants are inhabited and coated by probiotics. Previously, we demonstrated that plant cells, which are immobilized by cell walls, have maintained probiotics (endophytes) that are mobile to act similar to human immunity cells to seek-and-destroy pathogens. However, scientists have overlooked probiotics in silks/styles. We have two strategies to use this potential natural resource. First, we propose to discover and test probiotic sprays that growers can apply onto silks (in corn), and which may be transferable to wheat grain heads, when disease outbreaks occur nearby to provide rapid, real-time protection. Specifically, building upon recent discoveries by our team, we propose to culture and test silk probiotics from diverse corn genotypes from across the world that have been reported to have partial resistance to Fusarium. In a parallel strategy, we will sample the DNA of silks of corn that are partially resistant to Fusarium to uncover complex microbial sub-communities (sub-microbiomes) that crop breeders can later select to prevent climate change associated disease outbreaks. These probiotic strategies may also protect Canadian growers against new pathogens that may invade silks due to climate change, since other devastating fungal pathogens in warmer climates (e.g. Latin America, Africa) already enter corn grain through the silks. Our probiotics should be transferable to these regions, allowing our research to also benefit subsistence farmers who are the most vulnerable to climate change. This project is a research collaboration between academic, government and private sector scientists, with the goals of catalyzing investment for commercialization, and training young scientists for the growing microbiome sector.