LIPFUSA _NORDIC: An interdisciplinary Network to Combat Fusarium Mycotoxin Contamination in Nordic Cereals

To create a bridge between research on plant and fungal biology we propose an interdisciplinary Nordic network LIPFUSA_NORDIC (LIPid metabolism and FUSarium interactions in Nordic Agriculture) that will gather expertise within plant cellular biology including image-based disease phenotyping, plant pathology, mycology, breeding technology, genomics and AI/ML modeling, analytical chemistry, and ecological engineering. The network may provide insights essential for developing potential joint project applications within resistance breeding and integrated strategies for reducing Fusarium infection and mycotoxin accumulation. Furthermore, the network aims to integrate ideas for tradeoff mitigation and ecological traits, leveraging the complementary expertise of the working group. The proposed network responds to NKJ’s mission to strengthen sustainable and resilient Nordic agriculture by linking existing research efforts on Fusarium diseases and mycotoxins mitigation. The LIPFUSA_NORDIC network will foster knowledge exchange, enable methodological alignment across disciplines, and support the development of competitive international joint research proposals. The network aims to discuss the possibilities to integrate subcellular and cellular host-pathogen interactions with genomic-enabled cultivar comparisons, ecological engineering, AI/ML-assisted data integration, advanced analytical chemistry, and mycological expertise to dissect regulatory and metabolic networks governing host-pathogen interactions. The network aims to identify key mechanisms driving fungal virulence and the in-planta formation of these toxins and their masked/modified forms. Such potential mechanistic insights, spanning molecules to cultivars, are currently lacking but are essential for advancing both fundamental understanding and enabling predictive, resistanceoriented breeding and sustainable disease management strategies