I think we may all agree that the current crisis in worldwide food prices "reinforces the need for more productive agriculture". You may have heard of Ug99, a virulent strain of black stem rust fungus which was discovered in Uganda in 1999 (hence the name Ug99). "This thing has immense potential for social and human destruction." These words are not easily dismissed, coming from Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug. Indeed this is most serious since wheat accounts for about 30 percent of the world's production of grain crops.
The bad news: Ug99 strain has spread slowly across east Africa, but in January of 2007 spores blew across to Yemen, and north into Sudan. Scientists who have tracked similar airborne spores in this part of the world say it will now blow into Egypt, Turkey and the Middle East, and on to India, lands where a billion people depend on wheat. If it gets into North America and Australia, it's curtains.
The good news: CSIRO's Dr. Peter Dodds groundbreaking work has led to the discovery of a virulence gene and could lead to the development of new wheat varieties with vastly improved rust resistance.
Scientists estimate that 90 percent of all wheat varieties planted around the globe are susceptible to this virulent wheat stem rust type. It's no wonder that the Bill Gates Foundation awarded Cornell $26.8 million to lead a global fight against this deadly wheat plague (giant kudos to the Gates Foundation as it has committed to date more than $700 million in grants as part of a broad agricultural development strategy aimed at providing millions of small farmers in the developing world with tools and opportunities to boost their productivity, increase their incomes and build better lives!)
The first line of defense against such a deadly organism is a chemical fungicide. However not only pathogens respond to the use of fungicides by evolving resistance, it ruins the soil's nutrients and poor farmers who stand to lose most from the blight generally can't afford it, or don't have the equipment or know-how to apply it.
I got one happy email (I have been following this UG99 plague for some time) in my box this morning from CSIRO (on the top of my blogroll) and listened to the podcast from Dr Peter Dodds who announced this breakthrough (listen to the podcast here) and I'm happy to report that within five to ten years this blight would be neutered and what is most impressive about this discovery is that it will cancel the use of chemical fungicides altogether.
My email:
Dear ....
Canberra based CSIRO Plant Industry scientist, Dr Peter Dodds, has been named by the leading science journal Nature as one of five crop researchers who could change the world.
Dr Dodds is part of a team at CSIRO Plant Industry that researches a plant disease called rust – one of the most significant and devastating crop diseases in the world.
His ground breaking research has led to the discovery of the rust ‘avirulence gene’ and could result in the development of new wheat varieties with improved and longer lasting rust resistance.
"Every day most Australians rely on the research of scientists like Dr Dodds because we eat wheat products like bread and pasta," says Dr Jeremy Burdon, Chief of CSIRO Plant Industry.
"Wheat grown in Australia that gives us these products has had rust resistance bred into it. Without this resistance we would produce less wheat, and wheat products might be more expensive.
"But rusts are adaptable and evolve to overcome resistance, so it’s an ongoing battle to keep developing new wheat varieties that are resistant."
The avirulence gene identified by Dr Dodds is the white flag that surrenders rust to the plant’s defences. Researching the avirulence gene is helping Dr Dodds identify and ‘design’ plant genes that more effectively recognise the avirulence gene to help the plant fight rust infection better.
"Other plants have rust resistance genes which we could potentially transfer to wheat and likewise we can develop ‘designer’ genes with durable resistance," says Dr Dodds.
"Our aim is to stack a number of these resistance genes into a single wheat variety significantly increasing its resistance and the length of time we expect it to remain resistant."
Nature’s acknowledgement of Dr Dodds comes as a new and highly virulent strain of rust called Ug99 encroaches on Asia’s major wheat growing areas and threatens Australia’s biosecurity.
"Science has an important role in helping address new and existing environmental challenges to improve the sustainability of agriculture, feed the world and reduce poverty," says Dr Dodds.
"Our research may lead to new varieties of wheat that can help farmers in Australia and elsewhere to help supply wheat and wheat products to people worldwide."
Dr Burdon says, "Dr Dodds’ work is testament to his significant contribution to CSIRO Plant Industry’s research that is improving environmental outcomes from agriculture and delivering healthier food."
Happy days! One major crisis with some light at the end of the tunnel. The other four scientists named in Nature are no less commendable.
For those who are interested in reading further material about this global rust threat, here is CSIRO's pdf on it. It's a short read which highlights their efforts.