Using field pathogenomics to study wheat yellow rust dispersal and population dynamics at a national and international scale

Lead Research Organisation: John Innes Centre
Department Name: Crop Genetics

Abstract

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Planned Impact

PI Saunders will lead the impact plan that will be an agenda item at monthly project meetings with Co-I's. All Co-I's have excellent track records in communicating the outcomes of their research to a broad audience and sharing tools, resources and code in a free and open manner. The PI and Co-I's also are regularly invited to speak about their research at national/international meetings and at various other venues.

Beneficiaries include:

Those involved in wheat yellow rust surveillance such as the UK cereal pathogen virulence survey (funded by Fera and the HGCA). They will benefit from development of high-resolution genotyping methods that will be incorporated into the UKCPVS. During the project, information will also be relayed to the UKCPVS as soon as relevant and reported in the NIAB-TAG's quarterly journal (Landmark) to reach the > 3000 NIAB-TAG members including agronomists, breeders and farmers.

Researchers working with wheat yellow rust disease. All data will be made freely available where practical, at the earliest opportunity. The data will initially be hosted via a modified version of the TGAC http://opendata.tgac.ac.uk website to ensure rapid release under a creative commons license. Once submitted for publication all data will be deposited in public repositories and linked to via the project-specific website.

Farmers, breeders, agronomists and wheat variety testing authorities will benefit from the rapid means of confirming whether previously resistant wheat varieties have been broken by virulent races of the pathogen. Our research will also confirm outbreaks on particular wheat varieties and look for associations between pathogen genotypes and host pedigrees. Participation of four major UK wheat breeders (KWS, Limagrain, Syngenta, RAGT) as partners reflects the urgency of the problem. Understanding the underlying variation and how this affects resistance breeding is essential for the strategic planning required to produce high-yielding wheat varieties that will be resistant when deployed in 10 years (considering time between initial crossing and variety release). This may also lead directly to management decisions on how to effectively manage the threat of PST to UK wheat production. This audience will be reached through publications in the farming press. For instance, results from our preliminary study have already been reported in EDP24, the HGCA newsletter, NIAB-TAG bulletin, world-grain.com, Farmers Guardian, Agrii company newsletter, EADT24 and the Crop Production Magazine.

Population geneticists. Where possible new tools and data analysis pipelines generated herein will be integrated into the interactive Galaxy user interface to ensure they are accessible to the widest demographic, that includes bench biologists. All tools and pipelines once verified will be publically released without delay.

The general public will benefit from interactions with the PI and Co-I's, who have given talks to public audiences on a variety of issues such as plant biosecurity. They will specifically focus on further educating the public on genome science and pathogen dispersal in relation to plant pathogens and the crops they infect. They will give at least one talk to a public audience relating to this project, at least once per year.

The PDRA's, programmer and RA recruited for this project will benefit from improved skills, knowledge and experience gained from the research and wider training. This will contribute to their future economic activity in the public and/or private sectors. The innovative nature of the project ensures these individuals will likely develop unique skills that should prove highly attractive in the marketplace. This proposal also brings together an array of disciplines that will provide an exciting training ground for a cadre of excellent young scientists. This will contribute to the next generation of skilled crop scientists, with benefits beyond the immediate outcomes of this project

Publications

10 25 50

 
Description Field pathogenomic approaches have been developed to identify pathogen races in the field and through an early detection method. The approach was winner of the BBSRC Innovator of the Year award (Dr. Diane Saunders) and has garnered much international attention as well. The method is now routinely applied in UK surveillance.
Exploitation Route New methods emerged, such as MARPLE, and this is now being used by UKCPVS.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Chemicals

URL https://acaciaafrica.org/marple-diagnostics-a-pioneering-step-in-ethiopian-wheat-rust-management/
 
Description New approaches such as MARPLE and also implementation as part of the UK Cereal Pathogen Virulence Survey.
First Year Of Impact 2015
Sector Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment
Impact Types Societal

Policy & public services

 
Description Leveraging genetic innovations for accelerated breeding of climate resilient and nutritious crops
Amount £1,300,000 (GBP)
Organisation Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2024 
End 12/2026
 
Description A meeting between CIMMYT and DFW funded by BMGF to discuss collaboration projects 
Organisation International Centre for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT)
Country Mexico 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution I organised a meeting funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation brought together members of the BBSRC's coordinated wheat programme (Designing Future Wheat) with members of CIMMYT (who breed wheat for the resource poor in the developing world), discuss potential opportunities for interaction. These opportunities are taken forward by writing proposals for Newton , GCRF or IWYP funding calls
Collaborator Contribution See above
Impact This interaction is still ongoing between members of BBSRC's coordinated wheat programme (Designing Future Wheat) and researchers within CIMMYT with proposals being written for IWYP and Newton calls
Start Year 2018
 
Description Bayer 
Organisation Bayer
Department Bayer CropScience Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Wheat genetics and genomics
Collaborator Contribution Wheat breeding and molecular knowledge
Impact joint projects
Start Year 2012
 
Description Bayer 
Organisation Bayer
Department Bayer CropScience Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Wheat genetics and genomics
Collaborator Contribution Wheat breeding and molecular knowledge
Impact joint projects
Start Year 2012
 
Description CGIAR 
Organisation International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
Country Syrian Arab Republic 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Provide molecular markers for yellow rust and blast resistance genes; provide germplasm with improved traits.
Collaborator Contribution provide field phenotyping and delivery into wheat cultivars
Impact n/a
Start Year 2013
 
Description CGIAR 
Organisation International Centre for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT)
Country Mexico 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Provide molecular markers for yellow rust and blast resistance genes; provide germplasm with improved traits.
Collaborator Contribution provide field phenotyping and delivery into wheat cultivars
Impact n/a
Start Year 2013
 
Description KWS 
Organisation KWS UK
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Genetics and genomics
Collaborator Contribution Breeder know how and germplasm
Impact joint projects
Start Year 2009
 
Description Punjab Agricultural University 
Organisation Punjab Aricultural University
Country India 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Know how on wheat genomics and genetics, training.
Collaborator Contribution Gernplasm, local knowledge
Impact Have helped partners implement marker technology.
Start Year 2011
 
Description RAGT 
Organisation RAGT Seeds
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Genetics and genomics
Collaborator Contribution Wheat germplasm and know how
Impact Shared projects
Start Year 2009
 
Title GENES ASSOCIATED WITH RESISTANCE TO WHEAT YELLOW RUST 
Description The invention relates to genes associated with disease resistance in plants. According to an aspect of the invention is provided an isolated nucleic acid encoding a nucleotide-binding and leucine-rich repeat (NLR) polypeptide comprising a zinc-finger BED domain, wherein expression of the NLR polypeptide in a plant confers or enhances resistance of the plant to a fungus, for example wheat yellow (stripe) rust fungus Puccinia striiformisi f. sp. tritici. 
IP Reference WO2019197408 
Protection Patent application published
Year Protection Granted 2019
Licensed No
Impact Wheat yellow rust resistance genes.
 
Description Agricultural Industries Confederation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Agribusiness Meeting: A step change in plant breeding to achieve a UK competitive advantage
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Australian, UK scientists solve 30-year wheat rust genetics puzzle 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Australian, UK scientists solve 30-year wheat rust genetics puzzle
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/uos-aus082418.php
 
Description Discussion Norman Lamb, MP 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Discussion Norman Lamb, MP
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Discussion with Gov Office Science 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Discussion with Gov Office Science
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description JIC Open day 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact JIC Open Day
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Penny Mordaunt, Secretary of State for International Development. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Penny Mordaunt, Secretary of State for International Development.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Rachel Lambert, Senior Livelihoods Adviser, Agriculture Research DFID 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Rachel Lambert, Senior Livelihoods Adviser, Agriculture Research DFID
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018