Progress 01/01/19 to 12/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:The workshop "Breeding Crops for Enhanced Food Safety" was attended by 65 onsite and 15 remote participants representing academia, industry, and government. Attendees were professionals, scientists, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students at these various institutions. We have delivered several presentations to diverse audiences in several formats. All of these presentations (except the course) were by invitation, indicating the broad interest in this field. 1) Formal Classroom Instruction: - PI Melotto developed a course on Microbiology and Safety of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables aimed at discussing and understanding what it takes to deliver safe-to-eat food. The course was offered in the winter quarter, 2019, when the workshop goals were discussed with the students. Students were from diverse backgrounds and ethnic groups. (~60 students) 2) Participation in Scientific Conferences: We gave oral presentations highlighting this project at the following events: - One Heath for Food Systems Conference: Integrating Veterinary, Food, Animal, and Agricultural Sciences. Sponsored by Nanjing Agricultural University, China and Hosted by Western Institute for Food Safety and Security, University of California, Davis. Attendees included undergraduate, graduate students, and professors engaged in the One Health Initiative. - 4th International Workshop on Interactions between Crop Plants and Human Pathogens. European Cooperation in Science & Technology (COST Action). Vienna, Austria. PI Melotto was the Keynote Speaker. - Plant Health 2019. The Annual Meeting of the American Phytopathological Society. Cleveland, Ohio, USA - Meeting of the National Association of Plant Breeders. Pine Mountain, GA, USA. 3) Hosting Workshops: - PI Melotto and Dr. Nicola Holden organized a Satellite Meeting titled "The Interaction between Plants and Human Pathogens" during the Biannual Meeting of the International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (IS-MPMI) Glasgow, Scotland, in July 2019. 4) Webinars: - PIs Melotto and Van Deynze reported the workshop outcomes to the USDA's plant breeding and food safety group via video conference. Hosted by Dr. Paul Zankowski. 5) Upcoming presentations in 2020: Although these events will be held outside the reporting period, they highlight the long-term impact of the NIFA Workshop and the sparked interest in breeding crops for enhanced food safety. The PIs will deliver an oral presentation at two events: - The Future of Lettuce Symposium organized by the Genes to Growers Project. Pismo Beach, CA. - Breeding Crops for Enhanced Food Safety Symposium during the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) Annual Meeting. Cleveland, Ohio, USA. - The Discipline of Plant Breeding symposium Feb 20, 2020, Washington, DC Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The workshop was divided into five sessions. A postdoctoral fellow, Andree George, and a PhD student, Cristian Jacob, moderated a section on their area of expertise. Furthermore, students and post-doctoral fellows had the opportunity to participate in the discussion groups. These activities provided excellent opportunities for these younger scientists to engage conversations with experts in the field and develop their network. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The PIs were committed to deliver multiple talks to diverse audiences, covering the outcomes of the workshop. In addition, we have assembled a writing committee (Maeli Melotto, Maria Brandl, Cristián Jacob, Michele Jay-Russell, Shirley Micallef, Marilyn Warburton, and Allen Van Deynze) to report the discussions and recommendations in the form of a whitepaper that is under review by Frontiers in Plant Science. See products, workshops, and conferences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
IMPACT: On June 5-6, 2019, The University of California, Davis hosted the first workshop on Breeding Crops for Enhanced Food Safety to identify knowledge gaps and research priorities in this emerging field to inform the USDA-NIFA and other federal agencies on funding priorities. Food safety is a complex issue that requires a concerted effort among disciplines and research fields that do not often have the opportunity to meet to objectively discuss global, comprehensive solutions. This workshop connected plant scientists, plant breeders, extension specialists, microbiologists, and food safety experts from industry and academia to discuss collaborative efforts and multidisciplinary approaches geared towards preventing the occurrence of hazardous microbes, mycotoxins, elements, and allergens in crop and food production systems (Goal 1). The two-day workshop was organized with morning presentations divided into five topics: (1) Crop safety: regulatory and research perspectives; (2) Genetic diversity in human pathogen-plant interactions; (3) Crop safety: extension perspective; (4) Programs currently breeding for crop safety; (5) Opportunities and breeding strategies for food safety. Oral presentations were delivered to both on-site and remote audiences (15 people participated remotely). In the afternoons, attendees were divided into three discussion groups to develop ideas, concerns, and perspectives on specific topics. Five areas were identified as needing attention in the near future (Goal 2): (1) Plant breeding research to understand the opportunities to reduce food safety issues associated with crops; (2) Plant breeding to address the pre-harvest components of a systems approach required to manage food safety; (3) Research to define and focus on high risk crop/hazard pairs; (4) A multidisciplinary approach to understand plant genotype x environment x microbe x management interactions; (5) Research on developing effective assays and approaches for selecting desirable breeding germplasm. There was overwhelming support for advancing research towards breeding crops with the goal of increasing the safety of the food supply chain. Short- to medium-term efforts were identified as follows: (1) Continue foundational research to create crucial knowledge of plant interactions with human pathogens and contamination of food with microbes, mycotoxins, elements, and allergens. (2) Initiate pre-breeding strategies to characterize genetic variability, heritability, and efficacy of target traits. (3) Support breeding programs where genetic variation and efficacy is established (e.g., breeding lines that accumulate less aflatoxins or heavy metals).
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Melotto M, Brandl MT, Jacob C, Jay-Russell M, Micallef S, Warburton ML, Van Deynze A. 2020. Breeding crops for enhanced food safety. Front Plant Sci (in review)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Oblessuc PR, Matiolli CC, Melotto M. 2019. Plant and human bacterial pathogens trigger similar SA-mediated defense in Arabidopsis. In: Book of Abstracts, XVIII International Congress on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Jacob C, Melotto M. 2019. Differential plant defense responses of lettuce genotypes against human pathogenic bacteria. In: Book of Abstracts, XVIII International Congress on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Van Deynze A, Melotto M, Jay-Russell M. 2019. NIFA: Breeding for food safety. Annual Meeting of the National Association of Plant Breeders. August 25-29, Pine Mountain, GA, USA.
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