Fusarium graminearum is a fungal pathogen involved in Fusarium head blight (FHB) disease of wheat and related cereals. The Fusarium genera (phylum Ascomycota) is comprised over 100 species and while not all are pathogens, it is said that all plant species are susceptible to at least one disease caused by Fusaria. In the case of FHB, it is mainly the trichothecene mycotoxin producers, which includes F. graminearum (Fg) and the Fg pathogen complex. The trichothecene mycotoxins are potent inhibitors of protein synthesis and eukaryotic cells. These toxins accumulate in the grain of infected cereals and can cause severe emesis and illness in humans and animals if ingested. In this presentation, Dr. Foroud will provide a brief history of the identification of Fusarium species and FHB disease, followed by short overview of my research interests in cell signalling in the Fusarium-wheat interaction, and will present some recent results from my team in mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling in Fusarium graminearum. Dr. Foroud is a research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in Lethbridge, Alberta. She began her adventures in plant science and agricultural research as a summer student in 1999, working for a potato breeder, and continued to work in agriculture as a student or technician at AAFC in Lethbridge and at the Center for Plant Health in Sidney, BC. She completed a masters in lipid biochemistry working with oilseed crops with Prof. Randall Weselake, and then began her work in Fusarium head blight disease of wheat in 2005. She completed her PhD through the University of British Columbia co-supervised by Prof. Brian Ellis and Dr. François Eudes. In her current post, she is interested in hormone and kinase signaling pathways, where she continues to study FHB and is branching out into stomatal development and abiotic stresses and has collaborators across Canada, and with colleagues in Australia, England and Italy.
