Editing Fusarium ear blight (section)

== Economic importance ==
From an economic standpoint, it is one of the major [[cereal]] diseases, being responsible for significant grain yield reduction world-wide.

In the U.S. and Canada, Fusarium ear blight emerged in the 1990s as a widespread and powerful threat to cereal production.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=McMullen|first1=Marcia|last2=Bergstrom|first2=Gary|last3=De Wolf|first3=Erick|last4=Dill-Macky|first4=Ruth|last5=Hershman|first5=Don|last6=Shaner|first6=Greg|last7=Van Sanford|first7=Dave|date=2012-07-11|title=A Unified Effort to Fight an Enemy of Wheat and Barley: Fusarium Head Blight|journal=Plant Disease|volume=96|issue=12|pages=1712–1728|doi=10.1094/PDIS-03-12-0291-FE|pmid=30727259|issn=0191-2917|doi-access=free}}</ref> From 1998 to 2000 the [[Midwestern United States]] suffered $2.7 billion in losses following a FEB epidemic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2010/diverse-wheat-tapped-for-antifungal-genes/|title=Diverse Wheat Tapped for Antifungal Genes : USDA ARS|website=www.ars.usda.gov|access-date=2017-03-05}}</ref> If we include primary and secondary economic losses, FHB cost the entire US$7.67 billion from 1993 to 2001.<ref name="Rawat-et-al-2016">{{cite journal | last1=Rawat | first1=Nidhi | last2=Pumphrey | first2=Michael O | last3=Liu | first3=Sixin | last4=Zhang | first4=Xiaofei | last5=Tiwari | first5=Vijay K | last6=Ando | first6=Kaori | last7=Trick | first7=Harold N | last8=Bockus | first8=William W | last9=Akhunov | first9=Eduard | last10=Anderson | first10=James A | last11=Gill | first11=Bikram S | title=Wheat Fhb1 encodes a chimeric lectin with agglutinin domains and a pore-forming toxin-like domain conferring resistance to Fusarium head blight | journal=[[Nature Genetics]] | publisher=[[Nature Research]] | volume=48 | issue=12 | date=2016-10-24 | issn=1061-4036 | doi=10.1038/ng.3706 | pages=1576–1580 | pmid=27776114 | s2cid=4177196}}</ref> Since 1990, extensive research has been put into the development of control measures of Fusarium ear blight. An example is the US Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative (USWBSI), a collaborative effort of scientists, growers, food processors and consumer groups aiming to develop effective control measures, including the reduction of mycotoxins.<ref name=":1" />