Genetics and mechanisms of resistance to diseases caused by viral and fungal pathogens in wheat, barley and related plant species
Lead Research Organisation:
Rothamsted Research
Department Name: UNLISTED
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.
Technical Summary
This project will focus on genetic and functional characterisation of genes in wheat, barley and related cereal species that are required for resistance to agronomically important diseases caused by (i) soil-borne viruses (Soil-borne cereal mosaic virus, SBCMV; Soil-borne- wheat mosaic virus, SBWMV; Barley yellow mosaic virus, BaYMV; Barley mild mosaic virus; BaMMV), (ii) the necrotrophic fungus Septoria tritici (teleomorph Mycosphaerella graminicola) and, (iii) Fusarium spp. fungi. Genes controlling resistance to these pathogens in cereal crops have not been isolated yet.
Objectives:
1) identify and characterise resistance to the soil-borne viruses in cereal cultivars and related species. This will include identification of novel resistance sources for durable disease control, genetic mapping of resistance genes, development of molecular markers for resistance, and both molecular and biological characterisation of the resistance mechanism(s);
2) produce a high resolution genetic map for the Stb6 locus specifying resistance to M. Graminicola isolate IPO323 in wheat as a pre-requisite for gene isolation using a positional cloning approach. This will include screening of large mapping populations for resistance to M. Graminicola as well as genetic linkage analyses using existing genetic markers (i.e. SSR, RFLP, etc.) and development of novel markers (i.e. AFLP, DArT, BES, CAPS, COS, etc.) more closely linked to Stb6. Please note: the actual isolation of Stb6 is not feasible using the current level of CSG funding;
3) establish at Rothamsted the published VIGS reverse genetics system based on Barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) in wheat and related cereal species (i.e. T. Monococcum) to enable rapid identification of gene / gene family functions with particular focus on candidate wheat and T. Monococcum genes involved in resistance and / or susceptibility to M. Graminicola and Fusarium spp.
Includes one BBSRC funded quota studentship.
Objectives:
1) identify and characterise resistance to the soil-borne viruses in cereal cultivars and related species. This will include identification of novel resistance sources for durable disease control, genetic mapping of resistance genes, development of molecular markers for resistance, and both molecular and biological characterisation of the resistance mechanism(s);
2) produce a high resolution genetic map for the Stb6 locus specifying resistance to M. Graminicola isolate IPO323 in wheat as a pre-requisite for gene isolation using a positional cloning approach. This will include screening of large mapping populations for resistance to M. Graminicola as well as genetic linkage analyses using existing genetic markers (i.e. SSR, RFLP, etc.) and development of novel markers (i.e. AFLP, DArT, BES, CAPS, COS, etc.) more closely linked to Stb6. Please note: the actual isolation of Stb6 is not feasible using the current level of CSG funding;
3) establish at Rothamsted the published VIGS reverse genetics system based on Barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) in wheat and related cereal species (i.e. T. Monococcum) to enable rapid identification of gene / gene family functions with particular focus on candidate wheat and T. Monococcum genes involved in resistance and / or susceptibility to M. Graminicola and Fusarium spp.
Includes one BBSRC funded quota studentship.
Planned Impact
unavailable
Publications
Hammond-Kosack K
(2014)
Plant resistance signalling hijacked by a necrotrophic fungal pathogen
in Plant Signaling & Behavior
Hofinger BJ
(2009)
High-resolution melting analysis of cDNA-derived PCR amplicons for rapid and cost-effective identification of novel alleles in barley.
in TAG. Theoretical and applied genetics. Theoretische und angewandte Genetik
Jing HC
(2008)
Phenotypic and genetic analysis of the Triticum monococcum-Mycosphaerella graminicola interaction.
in The New phytologist
Lyons R
(2008)
Identification and characterization of a novel efficient resistance response to the furoviruses SBWMV and SBCMV in barley.
in Molecular plant-microbe interactions : MPMI
Lyons R
(2009)
Characterization of two unusual features of resistance to soilborne cereal mosaic virus in hexaploid wheat: leakiness and gradual elimination of viral coat protein from infected root tissues.
in Molecular plant-microbe interactions : MPMI
Urban M
(2011)
Inactivation of plant infecting fungal and viral pathogens to achieve biological containment in drainage water using UV treatment.
in Journal of applied microbiology
Yang P
(2017)
Sequence diversification in recessive alleles of two host factor genes suggests adaptive selection for bymovirus resistance in cultivated barley from East Asia.
in TAG. Theoretical and applied genetics. Theoretische und angewandte Genetik
| Title | Take-all disease of Cereal Crops |
| Description | A 15 min video on the problems causes in wheat and other cereal crops caused by Take-all root disease. Then the video goes on to describe two new methods to control Take-all using either crop genetics or a taxonomically related soil dwelling antagonistic fungus that could potentially be applied as a seed coating or in row liquid application at drilling. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Impact | This video and two accompanying posters are used to raise the awareness of the farming community and the water industry to the take-all root disease problem and its negative environmental impacts. |
| Description | Novel sources of resistance to soil borne viruses in wheat and barley The wheat Stb6 gene conferring resistance to the fungal pathogen Septoria tritici has now been isolated and the sequence variants found at the locus molecular characterise in multiple wheat genotypes. The novel Stb6 sequence has been patented. BSMV Virus Induced Gene Silencing has been established as a routine toll for functional genomics analyses in wheat leaves and floral tissues. This technique has been used extensively in the follow up BBSRC ISP grant ' Protecting Yield Potential' |
| Exploitation Route | Via plant breeding |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Environment |
| Description | Virus resistant wheat and barley germplasm was given to UK and European wheat breeders |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | BBSRC- CASE studentship with HGCA (McMillan) |
| Amount | £108,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2008 |
| End | 09/2012 |
| Description | BBSRC- Quota (Elzbieta) |
| Amount | £108,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2009 |
| End | 12/2015 |
| Description | BBSRC- Quota to Rothamsted Research (Deller) |
| Amount | £76,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2005 |
| End | 09/2009 |
| Description | BBSRC-Industrial CASE studentship with Syngenta (Derbyshire) |
| Amount | £128,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2010 |
| End | 09/2014 |
| Description | Crop Genetic Improvement Network |
| Amount | £1,950,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 12/2008 |
| End | 10/2014 |
| Description | EMBRAPA Brazil, Common Interest project (Amaral) |
| Amount | £40,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Brazil |
| Start | 02/2010 |
| End | 02/2014 |
| Description | EMBRAPA Brazil, Common Interest project (Martins) |
| Amount | £20,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Brazil |
| Start | 07/2012 |
| End | 08/2013 |
| Description | Food Security joint PhD project between Rothamsted Research, University of Notingham and University of Reading |
| Amount | £106,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Rothamsted Research |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2011 |
| End | 09/2014 |
| Description | GRDC Australia with Australia National University, Camberra |
| Amount | £144,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Grains Research and Development Corporation |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Australia |
| Start | 01/2016 |
| End | 12/2016 |
| Description | HGCA part sponsored PhD studentship (McMillan) |
| Amount | £37,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2008 |
| End | 09/2012 |
| Description | Industrial-CASE BBSRC studentship with Syngenta_Steph Heard |
| Amount | £128,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2010 |
| End | 10/2014 |
| Description | Rothamsted Research BBSRC quota studentship (Brewer) |
| Amount | £108,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2010 |
| End | 12/2014 |
| Description | Wheat Genetic Improvement Network ( WGIN) - phase 2 |
| Amount | £1,949,153 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | IF0146 |
| Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 12/2008 |
| End | 11/2013 |
| Description | Wheat Genetic Improvement Network (WGIN) |
| Amount | £1,850,539 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | AR0709 |
| Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2003 |
| End | 11/2008 |
| Title | Wheat Genetic Improvement Network (WGIN) |
| Description | The WGIN website and database contains all the data from a large research network project started in July 2003 to improve wheat through the discovery of new traits and development of new resources. Although the main funder is defra, a lot of funds from the BBSRC have been combined with the WGIN funds to complete long series experiments and run the various stakeholder events which occur on an annual basis. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | A lot - to add more |
| URL | http://www.wgin.org.uk/ |
| Description | Wheat Genetic Improvement Networks (WGIN) funded by defra |
| Organisation | John Innes Centre |
| Department | Department of Crop Genetics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Kim Hammond-Kosack and Peter Shewry at Rothamsted Research co-founded the defra funded Wheat Genetic Improvement Network in 2003. This network is about to enter its 4th phase. Kim Hammond-Kosack is the project leader and Peter Shewry chairs all the meetings. WGIN ensures the wheat genetic, genotyping and phenotyping pre-breeding research ongoing within the project is focussed on improving the sustainability and resilience of the UK wheat crop. A very wide range of wheat traits have been investigated in WGIN over the years, numerous new genetic resources for wheat have been generated and distributed. An integral part of WGIN is the regular connections with the nine wheat breeding companies based in the UK. An annual stakeholder meeting is held each November to connect this project with the needs of the wider UK wheat industry. |
| Collaborator Contribution | John Snape at The John Innes Centre co-founded WGIN in 2003. John Snape was trhe project leader up until 2008 and then this transferred to Simon Griffiths. The John Innes is involved in generating new genetic resources and in genotyping and phenotyping specific mapping populations as well as maintaining and distributing key germplasm. |
| Impact | Over 60 peer reviewed publications, including many involving multiple teams based at different academic organisations and industry. 45 joint meetings with the wheat breeding industry. 15 stakeholder meeting. Annual or biannual community newsletters, Well maintained database contain all the project information, key data sets and the resources available. Training the next generation of wheat scientists, through summer placements funded by learned society summer bursary schemes and involving PhD students in specific large and long term experiments. Considerable new funding obtained for wheat research. Still need to add in the final numbers. |
| Description | Regular interactions with the company Anglia Water since Jan 2020 to discuss ways to increase farmers knowledge of take-all root disease in sensitive water catchment areas and new ways to control this disease problem through crop genetics. Have produced two posters and a video which have been shared with farmers in the Bedford - Huntingdon region |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Discussion with drinking water company to explain the problem of root diseases in cereal crops and how this causes nutrient run off into neighbouring water courses Explained a new genetic solution to controlling take-all root disease by growing commercial elite wheat cultivar that have the low Take-all inoculum build-up (LowTAB ) trait Produced two posters and a video to explain the take-all disease problem to farmers in East Anglia Identified a trial group of farmers to engage with. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |