Tuesday, May 17, 2022
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home SCIENCE NEWS Technology and Engineering

Understanding rust resistance in bread wheat

March 14, 2022
in Technology and Engineering
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Pests and diseases result in the loss of one-fifth of the global wheat harvest each year, which is enough to make around 290 billion loaves of bread. Resolving the persistent problem of the fungal rust diseases that attack wheat could help ensure future food security.

Understanding rust resistance in bread wheat

Credit: © 2022 KAUST.

Pests and diseases result in the loss of one-fifth of the global wheat harvest each year, which is enough to make around 290 billion loaves of bread. Resolving the persistent problem of the fungal rust diseases that attack wheat could help ensure future food security.

 

KAUST researchers, along with collaborators from South Africa, France and the U.S., have assembled the highest quality genome to date for bread wheat. This is a key South African wheat cultivar called Kariega, which has robust resistance to stripe rust, one of the three species of wheat rust. Using this genome, the researchers identified and cloned a key gene that confers stripe rust resistance.

 

“Rust spores are dispersed by winds and can travel thousands of kilometers, meaning new and highly virulent strains spread rapidly,” says Naveenkumar Athiyannan, who worked on the project alongside KAUST’s Michael Abrouk and Simon Krattinger. “Unlike humans, plants don’t have an adaptive immune system that helps them ‘memorize’ past infections. Instead, their ability to withstand specific diseases is encoded by disease resistance genes.”

 

“Wheat has a dynamic and complex genome, five times larger than the human genome. This makes it extremely challenging to pinpoint the location of a specific gene,” says Abrouk. Moreover, disease resistance genes often differ between wheat cultivars. Sequencing the Kariega genome, in particular, is important for understanding stripe rust resistance.

 

The team combined the latest DNA sequencing techniques to assemble the genome, before conducting extensive analysis using molecular markers to identify the exact chromosomal region that confers stripe rust resistance.

 

“The Kariega assembly allowed us to look in detail at the DNA sequence of this region and identify all possible candidate genes,” says Abrouk. “This step would have taken months or even years in the past.”

 

The team identified the stripe rust resistance gene as Yr27, which they then cloned to study the gene function and molecular mechanisms of resistance. In future, the cloned genes could be transferred to cultivars during breeding, and could even be modified to alter a plant’s disease recognition and resistance.

 

“We were excited to discover that Yr27 is a version, or allele, of a known leaf rust resistance gene,” says Athiyannan. “Now that we know the exact sequences of both alleles, we may be able to engineer a new version of the gene that recognizes both diseases simultaneously.”

 

“We’ve developed a fast and cost-effective strategy to clone disease resistance genes,” adds Krattinger. “The long-term goal is to clone the 400 resistance genes found in wheat, providing scientists with a real shot at eradicating major wheat diseases.”



Journal

Nature Genetics

DOI

10.1038/s41588-022-01022-1

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Cells

Article Title

Long-read genome sequencing of bread wheat facilitates disease resistance gene cloning.

Article Publication Date

14-Mar-2022

Tags: breadresistancerustUnderstandingwheat
Share26Tweet16Share5ShareSendShare
  • Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D.

    New study finds worrying linked to more COVID-19 preventative behaviors

    74 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19
  • Study provides long-term look at ways to control wildfire in sagebrush steppe ecosystem

    69 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 17
  • Striking new snake species discovered in Paraguay

    68 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Extraterrestrial stone brings first supernova clues to Earth

    67 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology researchers develop a tool for studying inflammatory diseases related to COVID-19

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17
  • World-first study reveals why people with COPD are more susceptible to COVID-19

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

Understanding how sunscreens damage coral

New Curtin research resurrects ‘lost’ coral species

SUTD develops design-based activity to enhance students’ understanding in electrochemistry

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 187 other subscribers

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Posting....