Accelerated Cloning and Characterization of Adult Plant Resistance Genes in Wheat
Adult Plant Resistance (APR) genes are broad-spectrum, partial-resistance genes that have the potential to contribute to sustainable control of wheat rust diseases. However, their isolation and characterization are complicated by the lack of precise molecular markers required for their identification, and therefore their use in plant breeding programs has been limited. Recent developments including the falling cost of sequencing and the increasing use of sequence capture methods to reduce genome complexity have enabled previously intractable methods such as mutational genomics to clone genes in wheat. Despite their increasing ease of use, many of these approaches require prior knowledge of the gene space and, in some cases, the gene family of the target gene to be cloned. As the APRs cloned so far do not belong to any common gene family, it is not possible to use general features of these identified APRs to conduct biased searches for novel APRs. This project aims to use an unbiased gene isolation technique called MutChromSeq, which combines chromosome flow-sorting and mutational genomics, and is independent of fine mapping, to rapidly clone the recently discovered APR gene Lr68 (Leaf Rust 68). Cloning APRs allows breeders to trace genes cheaply and quickly using gene-specific markers, enabling them to build effective and durable resistance gene pyramids. It also allows us to elucidate any common mechanism of action they have, helping researchers and breeders understand better the basis of their durable resistance. At the same time, the generation time of wheat has become one of the major limiting factors for the response time of breeders to rust epidemics. Thus, this project also aims to combine marker-assisted selection with accelerated generation advancement ('speed breeding') for rapid germplasm structuring and field performance evaluation.
