Maria Antonia Henriquez, Ph.D.

Image Maria Antonia Henriquez
Research Scientist - Cereal, Oilseed and Pulse Pathology

Plant pathologist for Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) and leaf spot diseases in wheat.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 101 Route 100 Morden, Manitoba, R6M 1Y5

Current research and/or projects

​​​​I am leading and/or collaborating in several projects involving multidisciplinary teams focused on pathology, breeding, agronomy, genetics and genomics of important traits in wheat.

  • 4DWheat: Diversity, Domestication, Discovery, Delivery
  • Mitigating Emerging Threats to Wheat  
  • An integrated approach for enhancing Fusarium head blight resistance
  • A pre-breeding platform for Canadian wheat improvement
  • Novel FHB resistance genes
  • Genetics and Improvement of FHB
  • Agronomy Cluster - Soybean and Corn Cropping Systems Integrated Crop Agronomy Cluster
  • Wheat Cluster Activities: CWRS Eastern Prairies: Breeding field ready Canada Western Red Spring cultivars for the Eastern Prairies, Developing Canadian Western Red Spring Wheat Varieties for Northern Areas, Breeding Improved Canada Western Amber Durum Cultivars, CWRS Western Prairies for drought and heat stress, Breeding improved CPS_red cultivars, Development of Canada Prairie Spring - Red (CPSR) Cultivars for Western Canada, Development of Field-Ready Cultivars of Canada Western Soft White Spring (CWSWS) Wheat
  • Public-Private Wheat Disease
  • Toward a Prairie Biovigilance Network
  • Crop sequences and FHB in western Canada
  • The population structure of Fusarium pathogens of small grain cereals, their distribution and relationship to mycotoxins

Research and/or project statements

My research program strives to find innovative and sustainable technologies to enhance genetic resistance and management strategies for Fusarium head blight (FHB) and leaf spot diseases in wheat. In addition, I manage a large  wheat FHB nursery, and screen cultivars proposed for registration, wheat germplasm, mapping populations, and provides data for all collaborators across Canada and abroad. I also research the occurrence, pathogenicity and genetic population structure of Fusarium head blight (FHB) and leaf spot pathogens in  wheat in Manitoba. 

Education and awards

EDUCATION

 Ph.D. Plant Pathology.

 M.Sc. Plant Breeding.

 B.Sc. Agronomy.

HONORS AND AWARDS

  • Visiting Fellowship in Canadian Government Laboratories Program. May 2011-May 2014
  • Douglas L. Campbell Graduate Fellowship. University of Manitoba. 2007-2009.
  • University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship (UMGF). University of Manitoba. 2007-2009.
  • International Graduate Student Scholarship (IGSS). University of Manitoba. January - December 2007.  
  • International Graduate Student Entrance Scholarship (IGSES). University of Manitoba. January -  December, 2006.
  • ORPA (Outstanding Research Publication Award) 2002. 
  • Postgraduate scholarship for obtaining the highest GPA of all graduates at the National University of Colombia (Palmira) in the year 2000.
  • Graduation with honours for achieving the highest GPA of all Agronomy's graduates at the National University of Colombia (Palmira) in the year 2000.
  • Laureate Thesis Award for the undergraduate thesis “Genetic diversity of Phaeoisariopsis griseola (sacc.) Ferraris using molecular markers”. National University of Colombia (Palmira).

 

International experience and/or work

Collaborative research projects with colleagues in many countries including United States, United Kingdom, Mexico and Norway.

Key publications

  1. Ragupathy, R., Ruan, Y., Berraies, S., Campbell, H., Meyer, B., Henriquez, M.A., Kumar, S., Burt, A., Zhang, W., Cuthbert, R.D., Fobert, P., and Knox, R.E. 2019. Genomic Selection for Fusarium Head Blight Resistance in Durum Wheat. XXVII International Plant and Animal Genome Conference, San Diego, CA, USA, January 12-16, 2019.

    2019 - View publication details

  2. Knox, R.E., Bokore, F.E., Cuthbert, R.D., Berraies, S., McCallum, B.D., Henriquez, M.A., Kumar, S., Burt, A., Fetch, T., Monro, C., Bhavani, S., Piche, I., Campbell, H.L., Meyer, B., Ruan, Y., Bhadauria, V., N'diaye, A., Pozniak, C.J., A. Sharpe, A., R., and DePauw, R. 2019. Molecular Breeding Opportunities and Challenges for Complex Trait Recombination on Wheat Chromosome 4B. XXVII International Plant and Animal Genome Conference, San Diego, CA, USA, January 12-16, 2019.

    2019 - View publication details

  3. Kumar, S., Fox, S.L., Mitchell Fetch, J., Green, D., Fetch, T., McCallum, B., Aboukhaddour, R., Henriquez, M.A. (2019). AAC LeRoy Canada western red spring wheat. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, [online] 99(6), 997-1005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2019-0184

    2019 - View publication details

  4. Kumar, S., Fox, S.L., Fetch, J.M., Green, D., Fetch, T., McCallum, B., Aboukhaddour, R., Henriquez, M.A. (2019). Aac warman canada western red spring wheat. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, [online] 99(2), 289-298. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2018-0221

    2019 - View publication details

  5. Kumar, S., Fox, S.L., Mitchell Fetch, J., Green, D., Fetch, T., McCallum, B., Aboukhaddour, R., Henriquez, M.A. (2019). AAC magnet Canada western red spring wheat. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, [online] 99(6), 988-996. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2019-0180

    2019 - View publication details

  6. Ruan, Y., Barraies, S., Sari, E., Knox, R.E., Cuthbert, R., Piché, I., Henriquez, M.A., Kumar, S., Burt, A., Konkin, D., Campbell, H.L., Li, L., Ragupathy, R., Zhang, W., and Fobert, P.R. 2018. Marker validation for FHB resistance in durum wheat. National Fusarium Head Blight Forum, St. Louis, MO, USA. December 2-4, 2018.

    2018 - View publication details

  7. Cloutier, S., Ravichandran, S., Edwards, T., McCallum, B., Henriquez, M.A., Humphreys, G., Cao, W., Fedak, G., Pozniak, C., You, F.M. 2018. Identifying and transferring genetic diversity from the wild to improve wheat. 9th Canadian Workshop on FHB & 4th Canadian Wheat Symposium, November 19–22, 2018 Winnipeg, Manitoba.

    2018 - View publication details

  8. Dhariwal, R., Henriquez, M.A., Hiebert, C., McCartney, C., Graf, R., Randhawa, H. 2018. Canadian heritage wheat variety alleles of flowering and plant height pathway genes associated with low fusarium head blight. 9th Canadian Workshop on FHB & 4th Canadian Wheat Symposium, November 19–22, 2018 Winnipeg, Manitoba.

    2018 - View publication details

  9. Ehsan Sari, Wentao Zhang, Peng Gao, Kerry Boyle, Adrian Cabral, David Konkin, Maria Antonia Henriquez, Andrew Burt, Santosh Kumar, Randy Kutcher, Curtis J. Pozniak, Yuefeng Ruan, Ron Knox, and Pierre R. Fobert. 2018. Applying genomics to characterize and improve Fusarium head blight resistance in durum wheat. 9th Canadian Workshop on Fusarium Head Blight/4th Canadian Wheat Symposium, Winnipeg, Canada, November 19-22, 2018.

    2018 - View publication details

  10. Rosa S., Langille L., Humphreys G., McCallum B., Fetch T., Randhawa H., Henriquez M.H., Voldeng H., Cummiskey A., Blackwell B., Scheeren P., Valerio I., and Turra C. (2018) Brazilian spring wheat germplasm as source of genetic variability. Poster and abstract presented at 4th Canadian Wheat Symposium, Nov. 19-22, 2018 in Winnipeg, MB.

    2018 - View publication details

  11. Ragupathy, R., Ruan, Y., Berraies, S., Campbell, H., Meyer, B., Cuthbert, R.D., Henriquez, M.A., Kumar, S., Burt, A., Zhang, W., Fobert, P., and Knox, R.E. 2018. Genomic selection in durum wheat: prediction accuracies of FHB resistance in a diversity panel and its application in biparental breeding populations. 9th Canadian Workshop on Fusarium Head Blight/4th Canadian Wheat Symposium, Winnipeg, Canada, November 19-22, 2018.

    2018 - View publication details

  12. Berraies, S., Knox, R., Cuthbert, R., Henriquez, M.A., Ouellet, T., Balcerzak, M., Blackwell, B., Bhadauria, V., Meyer, B., Ruan, Y., and Sangha, J. 2018. Molecular mapping of QTL for Fusarium graminearum biomass and deoxynivalenol accumulation in spring wheat grain. Joint 9th Canadian Workshop on Fusarium Head Blight and 4th Canadian Wheat Symposium, Winnipeg, November 19-22, 2018.

    2018 - View publication details

  13. Berraies, S., Knox, R., Cuthbert, R., Henriquez, M.A., Ouellet, T., Balcerzak, M., Blackwell, B., Bhadauria, V., Meyer, B., Ruan, Y., and Sangha, J. 2018. Molecular mapping of QTL for Fusarium graminearum biomass and deoxynivalenol accumulation in spring wheat grain. Joint 9th Canadian Workshop on Fusarium Head Blight and 4th Canadian Wheat Symposium, Winnipeg, November 19-22, 2018.

    2018 - View publication details

  14. Sari, E., Berraies, S., Knox, R.E., Singh, A.K., Ruan, Y., Cuthbert, R.D., Pozniak, C.J., Henriquez, M.A., Kumar, S., Burt, A.J., N'Diaye, A., Konkin, D.J., Cabral, A.L., Campbell, H.L., Wiebe, K., Condie, J., Lokuruge, P., Meyer, B., Fedak, G., Clarke, F.R., Clarke, J.M., Somers, D.J., Fobert, P.R. (2018). High density genetic mapping of Fusarium head blight resistance QTL in tetraploid wheat. PLoS ONE, [online] 13(10), http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0204362

    2018 - View publication details

  15. Henriquez, M.A., Humphreys, G., McCallum, B.D., Randhawa, H.S., Fetch, T., Fetch, J.M., Wang, X., Belmonte, M.F., McCartney, C.A., Kang-Choi, M. 2018. Integrated genomics, plant pathology and breeding research for improvement of Fusarium head blight, leaf rust and stripe rust resistance in Canadian cereals. Canadian Phytopathological Society Meeting. Quebec, June 17-20, 2018.

    2018 - View publication details

  16. Dinushika Thambugala, Anita Brûlé-Babel, George Fedak, Maria Antonia Henriquez, Adam Foster, Richard Martin, Brent McCallum, Jeannie Gilbert, Barbara Blackwell, Dean Spaner, Curtis Pozniak, Amidou N’Diaye and Curt McCartney. 2018. Mapping QTL for Fusarium Head Blight Resistance in Canadian Spring Wheat AC Barrie.XXVI International Plant and Animal Genome Conference, San Diego, CA, USA, January 13-17, 2018.

    2018 - View publication details

  17. Barraies, S., Knox, R., Ruan, Y., Cuthbert, R., Singh, A., Henriquez, M.A., Blackwell, B., Pozniak, C., N'Diaye, A., Sharpe, A., Clarke, J. 2017. Molecular mapping of QTL for deoxynivalenol accumulation resistance in durum wheat. Wheat Science and Business Meeting, Saskatoon, November 8-9.

    2017 - View publication details

  18. Barraies, S., Knox, R.E., Ruan, Y., Cuthbert, R., Singh, A., Henriquez, M.A., Blackwell, B., Pozniak, C., N'Diaye, A., Sharpe, A., and Clarke, J. 2017. 1b16. An early look at deoxynivalenol accumulation QTL in durum wheat. Wheat Science and Business Workshop, Saskatoon, November 8-9, 2017.

    2017 - View publication details

  19. Sari, E., Knox, R., Ruan, Y., Konkin, D., Cuthbert, R., Henriquez, M.A., Kumar, S., Burt, A., Berraies, S., Campbell, H., Lokuruge, P., and Fobert, P. 2017. Introgression of FHB resistance from Sumai 3-derived hexaploid wheat lines into Canadian durum wheat germplasm. Wheat Science and Business Workshop, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, November 8-9, 2017,

    2017 - View publication details

  20. Subramaniam, G., Ouellet, T., Aboukhaddour, R., Blackwell, B., Fedak, G., Foster, A., Henriquez, M.A., Laroche, A., Larsen, J.; Miller, S., Overy, D., Rampitsch, C., Foroud, N., Schernthaner, J., Harris, L. 2017. Towards Durable Fusarium and Rust Resistance in Cereals. Wheat Science and Business Meeting, Saskatoon, November 8-9, 2017.

    2017 - View publication details

Contact

Research facility

Morden Research and Development Centre
Route 100, Unit 100-101
Morden, MB R6M 1Y5
Canada

Expertise

Agriculture›Pathology›Cereal
Agriculture›Pathology›Oilseed
Agriculture›Pathology›Pulse

Affiliations

  • Member, Prairie Grain Development Committee: Wheat, Rye & Triticale Recommending Committee (PRCWRT )
  • Chair of the Fusarium head blight (FHB) Sub-committee in Disease Evaluation Team for the PRCWRT
  • Member, Canadian Phytopathological Society
  • Member International Cooperation Committee, Canadian Phytopathological Society
  • Financial Advisory Committee of the Canadian Phytopathological Society.
  • Member of the International Bioeconomy Forum AAFC Plant Health Advisory Group
  • Member of the North American Wheat Alliance (NAWA)
  • Member of the Food and Feed Safety Working Group
  • Adjunct Professor in the Department of Plant Science - University of Manitoba.

Language

English

Other languages

Spanish