Harnessing resistance by association directly in wild sea beet

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Pathogens and their hosts co-evolve in an evolutionary arms race, meaning that genetic diversity is maintained in pathogen genes involved in host invasion, as well as in host resistance genes. In an agricultural setting, however, crop breeding restricts the ability of crops to adapt. All crops were domesticated from wild progenitors and many are affected by the same pathogens. Unravelling host-pathogen interactions in a wild-agricultural host system can therefore drive our understanding of how plant hosts adapt as well as lead to the identification of novel wild resistance gene candidates for breeding programs. Sugar beet is one of the most recently domesticated crops and it can still be crossed with its wild progenitor, sea beet. Wild sea beet represents a reservoir of genetic diversity and, importantly, is infected by the same rust pathogen, Uromyces beticola, as sugar beet. Identifying the genetic diversity that confers resistance to this pathogen in wild beet can help us to improve yields of cultivated beet through manipulation or breeding. This PhD project employs state-of-the-art genome sequencing and analysis technologies and techniques (i.e. population genomics & AgRenSeq) to identify beet rust resistance directly from wild hosts and their offspring. The aim of the project is to identify and then analyse wild resistance genes for signals of natural selection and with our industrial partner, KWS, and to apply biotechnological approaches to candidate genes to engineer better resistance.