Colonization of cereal and noncereal crop residues by Fusarium spp. in southeast Saskatchewan

Non-Peer ReviewedIn July of 2000 and 2001, residues of wheat, barley, oat, canola, flax, lentil and pea crops were sampled from over 300 fields in southeast Saskatchewan. The non-cereal crops sampled had been preceded by a cereal crop, whereas the cereal crops sampled had been preceded in most cases by a non-cereal crop the previous year, and by another cereal crop one to three years previously. Residues were surface-disinfested and plated on nutrient agar for fungal identification. The most commonly isolated Fusarium species was F. avenaceum. Among those at lower levels were F. acuminatum, F. equiseti, F. culmorum and F. graminearum. Based on total fungal isolations, the relative percent isolation of most Fusarium spp. was similar for all residue types. However, the actual percent isolation of Fusarium spp. from canola residues was lower than from the other residue types. F. avenaceum was found at the highest levels in lentil, pea and flax residues. All Fusarium spp. found in/on residues were also previously isolated from wheat and barley heads affected by Fusarium head blight (FHB) in Saskatchewan, although at different relative frequencies. Colonization of canola, flax, lentil and pea residues by Fusarium spp. commonly associated with FHB and root rot of cereals suggests that rotations with these non-cereal crops might not be an effective control strategy against cereal diseases caused by Fusarium spp. in Saskatchewan. This is the first report of isolation of F. graminearum from residues of the most commonly-grown non-cereal crops in western Canada

Multi-trait genome-wide association study identifies new loci associated with optic disc parameters

A new avenue of mining published genome-wide association studies includes the joint analysis of related traits. The power of this approach depends on the genetic correlation of traits, which reflects the number of pleiotropic loci, i.e. genetic loci influencing multiple traits. Here, we applied new meta-analyses of optic nerve head (ONH) related traits implicated in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG); intraocular pressure and central corneal thickness using Haplotype reference consortium imputations. We performed a multi-trait analysis of ONH parameters cup area, disc area and vertical cup-disc ratio. We uncover new variants; rs11158547 in PPP1R36-PLEKHG3 and rs1028727 near SERPINE3 at genome-wide significance that replicate in independent Asian cohorts imputed to 1000 Genomes. At this point, validation of these variants in POAG cohorts is hampered by the high degree of heterogeneity. Our results show that multi-trait analysis is a valid approach to identify novel pleiotropic variants for ONH

Fusarium head blight in Saskatchewan (1998-2001)

Non-Peer ReviewedProvince-wide surveys were conducted in Saskatchewan for the last few years to monitor the development of Fusarium head blight (FHB) and determine the Fusarium spp. involved. These field surveys were supported by Agriculture Development Fund and conducted with the assistance of extension agrologists, Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food. Seed surveys for Fusarium damaged kernels (FDK) have been conducted by the Canadian Grain Commission with grain samples obtained from across Saskatchewan