Apr. 2, 2005 The Agricultural Research Service has played a
pioneering role in completing the mapping of the genome of the
fungus that causes wheat scab. The worst ever wheat and barley
disease first struck worldwide in the 1990s. Farmers and
scientists quickly realized that the usual methods of fighting
crop disease--planting resistant crops and applying fungicides--
wouldn't be enough. They needed ways to control the fungus
genetically. In 1999, geneticist Corby Kistler arrived at the
ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory in St. Paul, Minn., to unravel the
genome of the fungus known as Fusarium graminearum. He and
University of Minnesota geneticist Liane Gale mapped its DNA,
linking about 99 percent of its genome into a genetic map. The
project attracted a $1.9 million grant from the Microbial Genome
Sequencing Program administered jointly by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation. Kistler
shared the award with colleagues at Purdue University in West
Lafayette, Ind.; Michigan State Un