On September 9, the third of our Bi-Monthlies, we are pleased to welcome Dr. Dilip Shah, a research scientist with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis. Dr. Shah will talk about the research that his laboratory is doing to find a solution to a couple of very important fungal diseases in cereal crops. His work intends to increase food safety by decreasing the potential for accumulation of mycotoxins in the food of humans and animals.

Plants are amazingly adaptive at meeting environmental stresses and attacks from insects and viruses. Over the millennia and throughout millions of generations, plants have developed innovative ways to survive and prosper under harsh conditions. For example, plants have developed a first line of defense to ward off attacking fungi. Called defensins, these natural defense proteins are an area of focus for the laboratory of Dr. Shah.

The study of plant defensins is a relatively new area of research in plant science but is vital to modern agriculture, as an effective and sustainable control of fungi remains elusive. In the U.S., a variety of fungi result in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for potato, wheat, and barley farmers each year. In developing countries, fungi are particularly devastating to subsistence farmers. Serious diseases caused by fungi are usually controlled by chemical fungicides that the farmer applies to crops. What new approaches is Dr. Shah exploring?