GOHA Leadership Spotlight – Anna Whitfield
The Global One Health Academy Leadership Team devotes their time and expertise to help the Academy grow and prosper as a One Health leader. We had the chance to interview Anna Whitfield, GOHA Co-Lead for Food & Water Solutions and Professor in the Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology. Learn more about how Whitfield’s childhood on a family farm encouraged her to pursue a research career in sustainable/secure agriculture.
Where did you go to school and what did you study?
I attended the University of Georgia, where I obtained a Bachelors of Science in Biological Sciences. This major was housed in the College of Agriculture, where I was exposed to plant pathology and entomology classes. As a work study student I worked in different laboratories ranging from entomology to soil science. From my research experience as an undergraduate student, I knew I wanted to pursue a graduate education in plant pathology. However, I was torn because I was also interested in insects as well! Upon finishing my Bachelors degree, I then went on to graduate school at University of California, Davis. As a graduate student I was able to do rotations through labs where I was introduced to a PI who was studying vector borne plant viruses. This was perfect for me since I had an interest in both fields. From there, I moved to the University of Wisconsin for a Ph.D. studying the molecular mechanisms of vector transmission of plant viruses.
What or who inspired you to pursue this career?
I grew up on a small family farm in South Georgia, so I was involved with and interested in agriculture. I helped my family grow crops for food and also feed for animals. I always enjoyed working with plants. My mom was a teacher and my dad was a self-employed farmer so I spent a lot of time helping them on the farm. My parents always encouraged me to pursue extracurricular activities, and my sister was a role model for me. She was involved in the science fair and I saw how much fun she had. With the help of my science teachers and some inspiration from my sister, I decided to participate in the science fair myself. My projects were all agriculturally related, and my father would get involved as well, even helping me build mini greenhouses for my plants! My interest in sustainable and secure agriculture was solidified during high school when a disease wiped out all of the pigs on our family farm. I saw first hand the devastating economic and societal impact of disease and the fragility of our food production system. Having all these influences in my life, I was inspired to pursue research in this area so that I could make a positive difference in the agriculture sector.
What do you research?
The primary research focus in my lab is vector-borne plant viruses, studying viruses that infect plants and are transmitted by different arthropod vectors. Our research spans from the molecular level all the way to the ecological level. We study how viruses bind and enter insect cells along with how viruses spread in the field. This research includes applied work as well, targeting new sources of resistance to help control these viruses. It is really dynamic. Not only are we working with three different organisms (virus, insect, plant), but we are also looking at multiple scales from the molecular to the ecological. There is never a dull moment at work. You are constantly learning new things and thinking about diseases in new ways. One nice aspect of the applied work that we do is collaborating with extension specialists and growers. Hearing directly from growers about what they are experiencing and ways that our work can be applied is incredibly important. If we don’t listen to those involved, then sometimes we create solutions that are not fully applicable. Therefore, it is important to listen to the experiences of growers and integrate this knowledge with the results from the lab.
What project are you currently working on?
I actually have two favorite projects that I am working on right now! One is with the State of North Carolina. We have discovered new resistance breaking isolates of a virus called tomato spotted wilt virus. There is a single resistance gene, called Sw-5, that is widely deployed in tomatoes. It has provided really strong protection against tomato spotted wilt virus for many years. But unfortunately, the virus has evolved and developed resistance to this gene. So far there have been several instances of this resistance in Europe, California, Texas, and North Carolina. We have seen the new resistance breaking virus persist over three seasons and now we need new strategies to help control it. Such efforts include developing bioengineered plants that have resistance to the virus.
The second project involves taking a virus and turning it into an ally. We are modifying a corn-infecting virus to express genes and knockdown genes for functional analysis and crop improvement. The ultimate goal is to use it for genome editing of crop plants. We have shown expression and silencing, but we are still working on genome editing. This could provide us with a rapid and robust way to edit one of the most important crop plants for desirable traits, such as resistance to plant pests and abiotic stresses.
What is your favorite part of the job?
I really enjoy the synergies that come from working with trainees in the lab ranging from undergraduate students all the way to postdocs. Students have such wonderful ideas, and I love being able to work with them to nurture their scientific skills. It really is great to work as a team with mentees and also with my collaborators. I have developed lifelong friendships with some of my lab team and peers, and I like to say that I have an academic family and a biological family!
What do you view as a critical global challenge in One Health, and how does your research help address it?
A critical challenge is food security, making sure that there is a safe and secure food supply in areas where it is needed. Oftentimes, we don’t feel that pain in the U.S., but there are other regions of the world where it is felt more acutely. When it comes to One Health, I am very passionate about developing new strategies for plant resistance to viruses and new ways to improve crops rapidly so that we can make plants that are more robust and reliable for food production. Another important aspect of my research that addresses the One Health mission is studying emerging pathogens. What we learn here in North Carolina can be applied elsewhere, especially in other food insecure regions. One example of this is our study of resistance-breaking tomato spotted wilt virus. What we learn in NC can be applicable to other regions of the world where this virus is a threat to food security. Understanding the basic biology of these pathogens and developing new ways to have a secure food supply is very important for One Health.
What does being a part of the Global One Health Academy mean to you?
There is a term called plant blindness, which is basically the inability to notice plants and appreciate their significance. Over 80% of the food directly consumed by humans are plants and plants are the primary source of nutrition for livestock. Plants are indispensable to all other life on Earth, yet there is a lack of acknowledgement of the importance of plants for food, the environment, and the ecosystem services that they supply. Part of my mission and excitement about being a member of the Global One Health Academy leadership team is to fight this idea of plant blindness to make people more aware of the importance of plants in global one health. I am also committed to sharing and transferring the work of my lab team and the Emerging Plant Disease and Global Food Security Cluster. The research conducted at NCSU has application at the regional, national, and global levels.
Recent Publications
- First Report of Resistance-Breaking Variants of Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) Infecting Tomatoes with the Sw-5 Resistance Gene in North Carolina
- Authors: K. Lahre, R. Shekasteband, I. Meadows, A. E. Whitfield, and D. Rotenberg
- Multigenic Hairpin Transgenes in Tomato Confer Resistance to Multiple Orthotospoviruses Including Sw-5 Resistance-Breaking Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus
- Authors: Jonathan E. Oliver, Dorith Rotenberg, Karolyn Agosto-Shaw, Holly A. McInnes, Kirsten A. Lahre, Michaël Mulot, Scott Adkins, and Anna E. Whitfield
- Rescue of the first alphanucleorhabdovirus entirely from cloned complementary DNA: An efficient vector for systemic expression of foreign genes in maize and insect vectors
- Authors: Surapathrudu Kanakala, César A. D. Xavier, Kathleen M. Martin, Hong Hanh Tran, Margaret G. Redinbaugh, Anna E. Whitfield
- Blog post: Maize mosaic virus: a threat or an ally? – Molecular Plant Pathology Highlight
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