Location: Cereal Disease Lab
Project Number: 5062-21220-025-009-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2021
End Date: Aug 31, 2025
Objective:
Develop genomic, genetic, and molecular tools to better characterize various cereal rust pathogens, pathogen populations, and their interaction with host to determine diversity and aggressiveness. Ultimately the goal is to devise a more efficient system of deriving more resistant germplasm for use by the research community.
Approach:
Several differing rust isolates will be identified and increased for development of basic genomic tools as well as population studies. Sequence data will further be used to derive molecular markers such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) for use in study of pathogen population diversity and structure in samples collected from annual USDA-ARS race surveys and alternate host nurseries (e.g., the buckthorn nursery). Comparative genomics analysis will be performed to identify possible effector genes/proteins. Information will be integrated into a system of describing host-pathogen interaction and an efficient approach to developing resistant wheat germplasm for use by the breeding programs.
