BBSRC Embrapa: Using computational novel methods to characterise the genetics of tan spot resistance in wheat.

Dr Anyela Camargo, will add her expertise in computer vision, systems biology, statistics and bionformatics to the project. She has been interested in the topic of plant disease monitoring since his time at Corpoica where she developed a tool for monitoring cotton crops. At Liverpool University she developed a system for the early detection of plant disorders. Later she was involved in the modelling of the gene network describing stress responses in Arabidopsis. Now, she is using the Brachypodium distachon plant model to identify genes associated to the resistance to blast rice.

Prof. John Doonan is the director of the National Plant Phenomics Centre, he will add his expertise in genetics and molecular biology to help characterise, from the molecular point of view, the resistance to wheat to tan spot project.

Dr Narcis Fernandez-Fuentes has over 10 years of experience in different aspects of Bioinformatics and has developed a number of databases and web-servers widely used by the scientific community. Dr Fernandez-Fuentes is currently leading the Bioinformatics research within IBERS' C3G ISPG grant program, part of which relates to the discovery of genes linked to a range of traits of interest by combining a range of 'omics datasets and developing integrative approaches.

Professor John Draper has worked extensively at the interface between plant biology, analytical spectroscopy and computer science. Internationally he has been a pioneer in the use of metabolomics and machine learning to investigate the early stages of pathogen invasion in non-symptomatic host tissue. He has a long publication record in metabolomics, Brachypodium biology and plant defence.

IBERS, at Aberystwyth University, is a major centre for public sector plant breeding for ryegrasses, forage and oats. IBERS has an in-house high performance computer (HPC) facility, Next Generation Sequencing labs and the UK's unique National Plant Phenomics Centre. The NPPC is based around automated non-destructive image analysis system running in a purpose-built glasshouse complex. The system is designed to cope with a range of plants, including small and large plants such as oats, wheat, barley, maize and Miscanthus. The NPPC provides a focus for trans-disciplinary research to facilitate the discovery of the genetic and environmental basis for variation in complex traits that underpin the major global. Also within IBERS, the Genome Diversity and Plant Breeding group addresses the major challenge of the sustainable intensification of agriculture: enhancing production whilst reducing environmental impacts, particularly with respect to grassland dominated systems.

Dr Flávio Santana is a plant pathologist at Embrapa Trigo since 2006. Since then he is working in characterization of tan spot disease isolates from Brazil. He also is responsible as coordinator of a fungicide control of Wheat Blast and Fusarium Head Blight in several States in Brazil. In this Project he will be committed with the phenotyping of a population of resistant and susceptible wheat cultivars to tan spot disease.

Dr Ricardo Lima de Castro has experience in agronomy with emphasis on plant breeding, working mainly in wheat breeding, biometrics and quantitative genetics. In Embrapa Wheat he has been working in wheat breeding. Dr. Lima will identify wheat cultivars resistant and susceptible to the fungus attack deliverable (preparation of a list of cultivars and their genetic background), carry out of the trials to test resistance and help in phenotyping of resistance.

Embrapa Wheat is a branch of the Nacional Agricultural Research Center (Embrapa) where several researchers are directly involved in all area of agricultural science related to wheat, as plant pathology, entomology, weed control, plant physiology, soil nutrition, of which the main focus is wheat breeding. The facilities are well equipped with greenhouses, fields for trials and research labs.

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Tan spot is one of the main diseases of wheat in Brazil reducing grain yield up to 40%. Since there are not Brazilian cultivars resistance to the disease, control is through indiscriminate use of agrochemicals. The characterization of the mechanistics pathogen/ host interaction, in the context of an spot / wheat, can provide Brazilian scientists with key information to implement pest management control plans to reduce disease impact. The implementation of early detection of diseases systems, the use of naturally resistant varieties and the breeding of new varieties for resistance is more cost effective than trying to eradicate or manage an outbreak. This project will use emerging technologies for plant phenotyping, genotyping and computational modelling to help Brazilian scientists to characterise the resistance of wheat crops to the pathogen Drechslera tritici-repentis. This approach has been used by scientist at Aberystwyth University to characterise disease resistance in the context of Brachypodium distachon crops againts the rice blast disease. The method uses computer vision to track and characterise disease resistance.