Page 227 - Plant Canada 2024 Proceeding

PLANT CANADA 2024

and differed from TR4 in the evolutionary process; based on the comparison of sequences including
upstream and downstream of the SIX8 gene, this difference is expected to be due to the horizontal and
vertical distribution of the SIX8 gene in the past.

[P47] BACTERIAL ENDOPHYTES IN BARLEY CONTROL FUSARIUM HEAD BLIGHT PATHOGENS
4
1,4
1
IN VITRO. Vinuri Weerasinghe 1,2,3 , James Tucker , Ana Badea , Dilantha Fernando and Champa
Wijekoon 1,2,3 1
. Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba, 66 Dafoe Road, Winnipeg, MB,
2
Canada, R3T 2N2; Morden Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada,
Route 100, Unit 100-101, Morden, MB, Canada, R6M 1Y5; Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in
3
Health and Medicine, 351 Taché Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R2H 2A6; and Brandon Research and
4
Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 2701 Grand Valley Road, P.O. Box 1000A,
Brandon, MB, Canada, R7A 5Y3
Correspondence to: weerasi1@myumanitoba.ca

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is the fourth most cultivated cereal crop in the world, and Canada is among
the top ten barley producers. One of the major biotic threats to barley production is a fungal disease
called fusarium head blight (FHB). The main pathogen, Fusarium graminearum, infects barley spikes and
reduces the grain quality. FHB impacts several industries including livestock feed and malting, and may
lead to significant economic losses. The plant microbiome consists of pathogenic as well as symbiotic
and neutral microbial components. Host-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions play a role in
maintaining a plant’s health. Over the years, research interest in biological control of phytopathogens,
particularly using endophytes has increased. Endophytes are microorganisms that inhabit healthy plant
tissues without causing disease symptoms. Certain endophytes may be involved in defense against
phytopathogens and plant growth improvement. Despite this, studies on endophytes of barley genotypes
grown in Canada are limited. In this study, we investigated the antifungal effect of the bacterial
endophytes isolated from barley on the pathogens of FHB. Bacterial endophytes were isolated from
surface sterilized stems, roots, and grains of barley in bacterial culture media. The antifungal activity of
the bacterial isolates against F. graminearum was screened using a dual culture plate assay (in vitro). A
total of 16 bacterial antagonists were selected and the antifungal activity was evaluated by measuring the
fungal radial growth and calculating the percentage of fungal growth inhibition in comparison to a control.
Moreover, the selected bacteria were tested with F. avenaceum, F. culmorum, F. oxysporum, F. poae and
F. pseudograminearum, previously isolated from barley plants grown in Canada. Polymerase chain
reactions were performed to amplify the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and Sanger sequencing was carried
out to identify the bacterial isolates. The antagonistic bacterial isolates identified from this study
demonstrate the potential to be incorporated in the biological control of FHB in barley and other cereal
crops.

[P48] PATHOGENIC AND GENETIC DIVERSITY OF VERTICILLIUM LONGISPORUM CAUSING
VERTICILLIUM STRIPE OF CANOLA IN THE CANADIAN PRAIRIES. Longfei Wu , Rudolph Fredua-
1
3
2
1
Agyeman , Godfrey Chongo , Ahmed Abdelmagid , Stephen E. Strelkov , and Sheau-Fang Hwang .
1
1
1 Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2P5,
2
3
Canada; BASF Canada Inc., Saskatoon, SK S7K 3J9; and Morden Research and Development Centre,
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 101 Rte 100 #100, Morden, MB R6M 1Y5
Correspondence to: sh20@ualberta.ca

Verticillium stripe, caused by Verticillium longisporum, poses an emerging threat to Canadian canola
(Brassica napus) production. Initially detected in Manitoba, the pathogen has now been confirmed in
various provinces across Canada. However, the genetic background and pathogenicity of V. longisporum
populations from Alberta and Saskatchewan remain unknown due to limited availability of pure cultures of
the fungus. To advance this understanding, isolations of V. longisporum were made from plant tissues
samples collected in Alberta (7 isolates), Saskatchewan (12 isolates), and Manitoba (43 isolates). These
were cultivated in pure culture, and genomic DNA was extracted from the fungal mycelium. Two species-
specific primers targeting 18S rDNA intron region, VeruniF2/VeruniR3 and VlspF1/R4, were utilized to
confirm the species designation of the isolates, while their lineages were determined using a multiplex
PCR assay. Furthermore, five genes were sequenced, including the internal transcribed spacer (ITS),
actin (ACT), elongation factor 1-alpha (EF), beta-tubulin (TUB), and mitochondrial oxaloacetate transport
protein (OX) genes, to analyze the phylogenetic relationships among the isolates. The pathogenicity of

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