An international consortium of scientists and industry professionals has been formed to harness new genomic techniques to address the growing threat that weeds pose to crops. Called the International Weed Genomics Consortium, the group is being led by the USA’s Colorado State University (CSU) and includes the UK’s Rothamsted Research.
Rothamsted Research reports: “Large-scale weed control is usually accomplished by spraying herbicides, but weeds can adapt and evolve resistance to such treatments. This is expensive for farmers, forcing increased use of unsustainable practices like soil tillage or even larger quantities or mixtures of herbicides.
“As novel, non-chemical means to control weeds are sought, it is increasingly important to understand the genetic variation underpinning the traits that allow weeds to thrive and persist in agricultural environments.”
Rothamsted’s Dana Macgregor, a weed molecular biologist and a leading researcher on the project, tells the Rothamsted Research website: “It is clear that weeds cause significant damage, reducing crop yields and increasing agricultural costs, but our understanding of their biology, particularly their genetics, is so much less than what we have for the crops in which they grow.
“When talking about weeds, we can’t simply just transfer knowledge from better understood plants because the natural and anthropogenic selection pressures that drive weed evolution are very different than those acting on model, crop, or wild plant species. So the IWGC will take that important first step in generating knowledge about weed genomes, and with that knowledge comes an ability to understand why it is there and what it does.”
The genomics consortium is finalising a list of 10 weed species for which they will sequence complete genomes. Among these are annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum ), which is especially problematic in Mediterranean climates such as southern Australia, southern Europe and California, and tall fleabane (Conyza sumatrensis ), which poses major issues in South America.
In addition to the genomes, Rothamsted Research reports, the team will “create user-friendly genome analytical tools and training, particularly to serve early-career weed scientists”. Results and information will be shared via annual conferences, with the first of these scheduled for September 22 to 24 this year in Kansas City, Missouri, with in-person and virtual options.
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