Protecting our bread wheat against Septoria with disease resistance genes from wild relatives (WULFF_J17DTP)

驯化小麦的野生祖先代表了提高小麦抗病能力的极其多样化的遗传变异来源。鉴定和操纵支撑这种变异的关键基因将有助于可持续地提高产量和确保全球粮食安全。近年来，Septoria真菌已成为世界上许多小麦产区小麦的主要病原菌。Septoria是由遗传抗性和杀菌剂组合控制的。然而，这种真菌已经进化到对所有三种主要的杀菌剂都不敏感，因此，一些国家正处于完全放弃面包小麦种植的边缘。该博士项目将采用实验室病理学实验、田间试验、分子遗传学和生物信息学来描述一套小麦品系的特征，这些品系包含从小麦的野生亲缘种转移到驯化小麦的完整染色体，赋予（近乎）对Septoria的完全免疫。最先进的工具，包括突变基因组学和高通量序列复杂性降低[1]，将用于克隆一个关键的Septoria抗性基因。我们的首要长期目标是了解野生小麦中Septoria免疫的遗传基础，并将这种抗性设计到栽培面包小麦中。

The wild ancestors of domesticated wheat represent an extraordinarily diverse source of genetic variation for improving disease resistance in wheat. Identification and manipulation of key genes underpinning this variation will help to sustainably increase yields and secure global food security.In recent years the Septoria fungus has emerged as a major pathogen of wheat in many wheat growing regions across the world. Septoria is controlled by a combination of genetic resistance and fungicides. However, the fungus has evolved insensitivity to all three major classes of fungicide, and, as a result, some countries are on the verge of abandoning bread wheat cultivation altogether.This PhD project will employ laboratory pathology experiments, field trials, molecular genetics and bioinformatics to characterise a suite of wheat lines containing whole chromosomes transferred from wild relatives of wheat into domesticated wheat, imparting (near-)complete immunity to Septoria. State-of-the-art enabling tools, including mutational genomics and high-throughput sequence-complexity reduction [1], will be used to clone a key Septoria resistance gene. Our overarching long-term objective is to understand the genetic basis of Septoria immunity in wild wheat and engineer this resistance into cultivated bread wheat.