Characterising the microbiome and mycotoxin profiles of winter wheat varieties grown under sustainable crop protection system

During wheat colonisation, toxigenic Fusarium species produce substantial numbers of mycotoxins, which pose serious adverse health effects in human and animals. The current control strategies rely on the use of resistant varieties and synthetic fungicides. However, these control measures are not always effective.

Moreover, excessive use of fungicides has led to the development of resistance in many toxigenic Fusarium species. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an effective and sustainable method to minimise wheat mycotoxin content.

The goal of this project is to provide novel insights into the role of wheat microbiome in preventing mycotoxin contamination and to identify wheat varieties and microbes with potential to promote the suppression of mycotoxin production in wheat.

Fungicide untreated winter wheat varieties will be collected from three different experimental field sites in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Then, a targeted metabolomics approach will be used to quantify 10 important mycotoxins in winter wheat samples, to identify resistant and susceptible varieties.

Subsequently, DNA will be extracted from the samples and a culture-independent shotgun metagenomic high-throughput sequencing will be applied to characterise the microbiome diversity and function of wheat varieties.

Robust statistical tests and bioinformatics tools will be used to analyse and compare sequences and mycotoxin level data, to identify specific microbial species and metabolic pathways that are significantly correlated with wheat varieties found resistant and susceptible to mycotoxin accumulation.

Ultimately, the identification of specific wheat varieties that recruit microbiomes that can inhibit mycotoxin production opens new horizons for breeding next-generation crops depending less on fungicide input and resistant to mycotoxin contamination. This project and the planned training activities will further enhance my skills to become an independent researcher.