Taming a toxic fungus that ruins grain worldwide

Eastern Ontario, Adamo Young, 16, Grade 11, Lisgar Collegiate Institute, Ottawa

Adamo Young admits he was the “bug guy” at school.

“When I was young, I really liked nature and living things: catching tadpoles and bugs. I joined a nature club and that helped me to broaden my interest. And in Grade 7, I started to do science fair projects.”

Now in Grade 11 at Lisgar Collegiate Institute, Adamo is on his way to finding a solution for a serious pest that damages wheat and other cereal crops, causing billions of dollars in losses for farmers in Canada and around the world.

Fusarium graminearum, is a fungus responsible for a disease dubbed Fusarium head blight. The fungus produces a toxin called deoxynivalenol (DON) that accumulates in the plant, rendering it unfit for animal or human consumption. DON suppresses appetite and livestock reject food contaminated with it. In humans, DON has anorexic effects — causing vomiting and diarrhea, for example.

Earlier research had shown that the fungus’ toxin production can be triggered by environmental stress. “I wanted to see the effects of four different stress environments on toxin production in three different (fungus) strains,” says Adamo.

Among other findings: regulating the nitrogen supply for one fungus strain appears to be an effective way of controlling its toxin production and crop contamination, a result that will “broaden our understanding of F. graminearum and lead us in new research directions,” he explains.

Crop research is something that has interested Adamo for several years. Living close to the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa, part of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, has allowed Adamo to do research in its lab for some time.

For the past few months, Adamo worked at the lab after school and the days when his high school teachers took time off for professional development.

With the help of mentor and research scientist Gopal Subramaniam of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (an affiliate of Carleton University), Adamo learned new techniques to use with very expensive equipment.

“Working in the lab is great. You learn real lab skills and work with real equipment. It was really cool. Learning some of the techniques was pretty difficult…I worked 12 hours straight at the lab the first time I tried one of them,” he explains.

Adamo also considers that the mentor is “key” as a person teaching the fundamental skills of the field.

But it paid off. Adamo won the top $2,500 prize in the Eastern Ontario SBCC, a $500 prize awarded by the Museum of Science and Technology, and a paid summer research position at University of Ottawa.

“The most rewarding part was doing an experiment no one has done before and getting results that no one has seen before. I put all this time and work into this project and was able to find something new.”

Adamo says that SBCC has helped to reinforce his passion for biology and considers his experience with SBCC as a “wonderful opportunity to do this experiment and work with a real scientist. It is a pretty unique experience.”

“I definitely see a career in biology in the future. This is really my passion.”