OAT RUST RESEARCH at the

PLANT BREEDING INSTITUTE

PROF. ROBERT F. PARK ADJ. ASSOC. PROF. COLIN WELLINGS

DR. HAYDAR KARAOGLU DR. DAVINDER SINGH

ADRIAN CABRAL

Team members

Prof. Robert F. Park (GRDC Chair-Cereal Rust Research), Director of the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program

Adj. Assoc. Prof. Colin Wellings (NSW DPI -seconded to Univ. of Sydney)

Dr. Davinder Singh (Postdoctoral Fellow, oats, wheat and barley)

Research Areas

pathogen variability• pathogenicity surveys (Prof Park and Dr Wellings) • genetic variation (with Dr. Karaoglu)

genetics of resistance to crown rust• seedling (Australian oat cultivars + OCR differentials)• APR : more than 50 accessions (6x) identified, 7 selected are being mapped in

SSD populations

genetics of resistance to stem rust• seedling (several sources of effective resistance being characterised)• APR (several sources being characterised)

Research Areas cont’d

pre breeding, APR to crown rust:• single backcross approach-• Portage/MN 841837//Riel• Portage/MN 841837//Nobby

seed will be made available to breeders

proof of concept (can the single backcross approach, used to accumulate minor genes for rust resistance in wheat, be successfully applied to oats?)

APR Donor 1 APR Donor 2

2-300 BCF1

F1

AdaptedParent

Bulk Recurrent Selection for Agronomic type and Rust resistance

X

Single Spike Selections

Genetic variability in oat rusts

Dr. Haydar Karaoglu (Molecular biologist)

Long term Aim: develop SSR markers for 5 pathogenic species of Puccinia i.e., Pgt, Pt, Pst, Pca and Ph.

Current work: developing markers for the stem rust P. graminis (Pgt) and if applicable for Pgs (rye), Pga, Pgl (rye grass), Pgt x Pgs (Scabrum rust) Pst and Psh (Barley grass yellow rust)

Progress to date:- total of 11,731 SSRs (Di to hexanucleotides) identified from Pgt genome - developed 20 polymorphic SSR markers for Pgt- Ten SSRs (3%) amplify OCR - polymorphism to be testedMethodology: - Identify/download most abundant SSRs from the sequenced Pgt genome

using Python find; develop SSR markers using Oligo 6 software. - Apply the developed markers for pathogen variability of all Australian

isolates

Adrian Cabral – crown rust

2nd Year PhD. Candidate

Thesis: Genetics of Host: pathogen interaction in wild and cultivated Avena: P coronata f. sp. avenae.

SSR variability studies in 2x and 4x wild oat accessions genetic analysis of resistance to Pca in 2x and 4x accessions multipathotype tests of 2x, 4x & 6x accessions to characterise

resistance to Pca and Pga APR to Pca in selected accessions mapping studies

Overall ..- No SSR polymorphisms has been detected among Australian oat cultivars

Current - Future - Development of SSR markers for Australian wild oats- Develop linked markers-Mapping of APR genes to Pc genes- Seedling OCR markers to be identified/procured

Long term objectives- Tease out OCR seedling resistance genes-create single gene stocks &

map- Utilise DArT

Adrian Cabral – crown rust