“Integration of Enviromics into genetics and breeding”

In natural conditions, environmental conditions play a significant role in shaping phenotypic variation. However, effectively integrating the environmental contributions into genetic analyses and breeding programs remains a challenge. One key bottleneck is identifying key environmental variables from comprehensive whole-season external weather profiles that are associated with phenotypic variation. This webinar will first introduce the CERIS-JGRA framework designed to identify and integrate major environmental variables. This simple and straightforward framework provides an approach for comprehending and predicting phenotype values, thus enhancing our ability to develop resilient crop varieties. Then I will delve into the enviromic prediction approach, which leverages machine learning and deep learning to forecast crop performance over temporal and spatial scales.

Link:

When it's time, join your Webex meeting here.

Join meeting

More ways to join:

Join from the meeting link

https://wheatinitiative.webex.com/wheatinitiative/j.php?MTID=m3c8f7e9f22611efd0a32f622829ae050

Join by meeting number

Meeting number: 2781 596 6915

Meeting password: NniVVTbM768 (66488826 from video systems) 

Connect to audio  

Connect to audio using the computer.   
Join from a video system or application
Dial 27815966915@wheatinitiative.webex.com 
You can also dial 62.109.219.4 and enter your meeting number.

Need help? Go to https://help.webex.com

Developing cisgenic resistance gene stacks in wheat for improved resistance to wheat stem rust disease

by Dr Ming Luo

NOTE: This will be on March 26 in Calgary time but March 27th Australian time

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer, mobile app or room device

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 230 590 844 827
Passcode: LwiDy5

Download Teams | Join on the web

Abstract

Fungal rust diseases are a major production constraint in wheat with the combined annual global cost of stem rust, stripe rust and leaf rust estimated to be more than $3 billion. The most cost effective and environmentally sustainable approach to controlling rust diseases is via genetic resistance. However, these pathogens evolve rapidly and can quickly overcome resistance genes, particularly when they are deployed individually. Polygenic resistance is believed to provide more durable resistance, however selection of multiple unlinked resistance genes in breeding programs is difficult and expensive and gene combinations quickly separate in future breeding efforts. A more effective strategy for strong, longer-lasting resistance is to combine multiple genes into a single locus with multi-gene cassettes. We have developed wheat lines containing multi-gene cassettes encoding up to five different stem rust resistance genes at single loci. Furthermore, two separate resistance gene stacks, each encoding five wheat stem rust resistance transgenes, have been combined by conventional breeding to generate wheat plants containing an unprecedented level of polygenic stem rust disease resistance. Next generation five gene stacks have now been produced in wheat using a Precision Engineering approach that incorporates only wheat DNA sequences i.e. no selectable markers, cloning scars or Agrobacterium border sequences. These entirely cisgenic plants have the potential for reduced regulatory burden given recent changes to GM legislation in some countries. Cisgenic resistance gene stacks are now also being developed for wheat stripe rust and leaf rust diseases. This cisgenic technology is applicable to other crops for improving disease resistance and for developing other polygenic traits of agronomic significance with single gene inheritance.

Biography

Dr Ming Luo obtained his master’s degree in Agronomy at Sichuan Agricultural University, China in 1989 and PhD in Molecular Genetics at Australian National University, Australia in 2004. He has worked at CSIRO Agriculture and Food since 2004 where he is currently employed as a Senior Research Scientist. His research interests include epigenetic mechanisms that regulate the double fertilization processes in flowering plants. More recently he has been developing durable resistance to wheat stem rust by stacking multiple (five) disease resistant genes at a single locus in wheat. His team has improved upon this strategy to generate large, entirely cisgenic wheat resistance stacks which is a novel technology potentially applicable to many other agricultural crops.

“The contribution of the wheat leaf rust resistance genes Lr34 and Lr67 to multi-pest resistance.”

Dr. McCallum is a senior research scientist at AAFC, Morden Research and Development Centre in Manitoba. His research over the past 28 years has a focus on wheat leaf rust disease in Canada, variation in the causing pathogen, and identification and development of genetic resistance, host pathogen interaction and pathogen evolution.

Thursday on February 22nd (9 am Calgary /5 pm Berlin/4 pm London)

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer, mobile app or room device

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 247 426 784 132
Passcode: 5HoeMR

Download Teams | Join on the web

Join with a video conferencing device

teams@aafc-aac.video.canada.ca

Video Conference ID: 114 320 825 2

Alternate VTC instructions

This meeting may be recorded and you may decline to have your likeness recorded by turning your camera off. Cette réunion peut être enregistrée et vous pouvez refuser que votre image soit enregistrée en éteignant votre caméra.

Learn More | Help | Meeting options | Legal

Please share it with those who maybe interested.

Title:

"Tracing a cereal killer: Genomics-assisted surveillance and genome evolution of the blast fungus.”

THORSTEN lANGNER is a group leader at the Max-Planck Institute for Biology, Tuebingen Germany. since July, 2023. Research focus: Role of mini-chromosomes in blast fungus genome evolution; immune receptor engineering for wheat blast resistance; pathogen surveillance.

Join the MS teams meeting on your computer, mobile app or room device

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 281 024 304 764
Passcode: Q7THib

Download Teams | Join on the web

Join with a video conferencing device

teams@aafc-aac.video.canada.ca

Video Conference ID: 116 936 289 6

Alternate VTC instructions

The WheatIS EWG is holding their annual meeting at PAG in hybrid.

You are invited to join the meeting:

 Schedule: Friday, January 12, 10 AM to 12 PM California time (Pacific Standard Time PST).
On site: room Palm 8 (cf. map in attachment)
Remotely: https://inrae-fr.zoom.us/my/malaux
Audience: the meeting is primarily intended for members of the EWG, but feel free to invite any colleagues interested in the field (on site or remotely).

Please find all details attached in the PDF.

Anders Borgen will be giving his talk titled: Unlocking the resistance to common bunt

Please find the link for the meeting here

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NzkwYzdhOTUtMTMxYy00MzczLTkzZTEtOWNlN2YxZTJlZGJk%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%229da98bb1-1857-4cc3-8751-9a49e35d24cd%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2229719dd4-9895-4fd3-8e9e-b8827910d03e%22%7d

9 am Calgary /5 pm Berlin/4 pm London

In the 8th edition in the GFAR Talks series, two eminent speakers will explore how research, that has so far focused on mainstream crops grown as monocultures, requires a paradigm shift if we are to transform the agrifood system.

Emile A. Frison is an expert on agricultural biodiversity, agroecology and sustainable food systems. He is Senior Advisor to the Agroecology Coalition and member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food). A Belgian national, he spent his entire career in international agricultural research for development, including six years in Africa in Nigeria and Mauritania. He was Director General of Bioversity International from 2003 to 2013. Since 2013, Dr Frison focuses on advancing sustainable agriculture and food systems. He is the lead author of the IPES-Food report “ From Uniformity to Diversity: a paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems”. He is a member of the Africa Europe Foundation Strategy Group on Agriculture, and is author or co-author of over 175 scientific, technical and policy papers.

Romano De Vivo has championed sustainable agriculture for over two decades. As a sustainability leader at CropLife International, he steers the organization's environmental initiatives and forges partnerships, prioritizing innovative farming, adaptive food systems, and impactful climate solutions.
Romano earned his doctorate in Agricultural Economics from the University of Salerno. His commitment to lifelong learning also took him to STOA and MIT's Sloan School of Management for his MBA, alongside a Masters in Environmental Governance from the Graduate Institute of Geneva.
Before CropLife, he contributed to sustainability and environmental strategies at global frontrunners Givaudan and Syngenta. Beyond the corporate sphere, Romano engages in public research and shares his expertise as a lecturer at the University of Piacenza and the University of Freiburg's Center for Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability.
With roots in Italy and Switzerland, Romano's blended heritage provides a unique lens, positively shaping the future of sustainable agriculture.

The Expert Working Group on Wheat Pathogens presents:

Global Burden of Crop Loss initiative – in pursuit to support data-driven decision making

Anna is a geographer and crop protection modeller with experience working on highly collaborative projects tackling crop pest problems in the USA, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Before joining CABI in 2021 as a Technical Lead on the Global Burden of Crop Loss initiative, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher in modelling groups at the Plant Science Department in Cambridge (2018-2021) and at Rothamsted Research (2014-2018). Anna has experience in modelling spatial distribution of host plants, monitoring the spread of pathogens, advising surveillance strategies, working with qualitative farmer survey data, modelling pest climatic niche and pest population dynamics.

Please join on  Wednesday November 8th, 9am Calgary time , 5pm Berlin time, 12am (00:00) Perth time via the link:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NTg4YTRlMTAtZWJjNy00ZmVjLWJjZGYtZWJhMGE1YjgxN2Q0%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%229da98bb1-1857-4cc3-8751-9a49e35d24cd%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2229719dd4-9895-4fd3-8e9e-b8827910d03e%22%7d

Dr. Viviane Cordovez from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (Wageningen) will give a presentation on;

“Wheat Phyllosphere Yeasts: Diversity And Potential For Improving Plant Resilience To (A)biotic stresses”

Please join the webinar following the link:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_N2RkZjk0YjEtNTcwZC00NjU0LTk5M2YtNDAzNjIzYTVkZTA4%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%229da98bb1-1857-4cc3-8751-9a49e35d24cd%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2229719dd4-9895-4fd3-8e9e-b8827910d03e%22%7d

When?

Tuesday, Oct 24th, 2023

Berlin, Germany 4pm

Calgary, Canada 8am

The Expert Working Group on Control of Wheat Pathogens would like to invite to their fifth webinar !

Dr. Brande Wulff from the Centre for Desert Agriculture at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia will be speaking about “Harnessing genetic diversity in wheat and its wild relatives for disease resistance”.

Abstract: Genetic diversity for disease resistance has been eroded in bread wheat through polyploidisation, domestication and breeding. We have developed sequence-configured panels of wheat and wild progenitors for high-throughput identification of disease resistance genes by association mapping or mutational genomics [1-4]. Cloned resistance genes can speed up resistance breeding through generation of GM stacks [5] or by conventional marker-assisted selection in combination with speed breeding [6,7]. We propose internationally coordinated efforts to clone and characterize wheat resistance genes to facilitate a more judicious deployment of resistance genes in GM and conventional breeding programmes [8].

Wulff is a molecular plant pathologist and geneticist. He uses high throughput DNA sequencing and bioinformatics to identify genes restricting stem rust and Septoria tritici blotch, two major diseases of wheat. His long-term aim is to use cloned genes from wild ancestors of wheat to engineer durable resistance to these diseases in cultivated wheat. Dr. Wulff recently took up a faculty position in the Centre for Desert Agriculture at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. Prior to this he worked for ten years in the John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, UK.

Please join on  Tuesday Oct 3, early morning 6 am Calgary time via the link https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YjZiNTA2MzEtNzkxMC00ZTcxLWFlNDctZGRmYjlhNWM3ZjAw%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%229da98bb1-1857-4cc3-8751-9a49e35d24cd%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2229719dd4-9895-4fd3-8e9e-b8827910d03e%22%7d Dr.

This Event is for members only.

Dr. Janna Beckerman from Purdue University, USA, will give a presentation on

“Fifty years of Fungicides Development, Deployment and Future Use”

Please join the webinar folling the link:

 https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MDYzYmJkNjctYjhmNi00YzE2LThiMTQtNzc2YTJjOWIwYWNl%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%229da98bb1-1857-4cc3-8751-9a49e35d24cd%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2229719dd4-9895-4fd3-8e9e-b8827910d03e%22%7d

Presenter: Scott Boden, Group Leader and ARC Future Fellow, University of Adelaide, Australia Outline: The sustainability of wheat yields relies on breeding, which strives to maintain and enhance grain production by improving traits such as pathogen resistance, tolerance to abiotic stresses, end-use quality, and yield potential, among others. Breeders achieve these productivity gains by identifying genetic variation for these agronomically important traits, with beneficial alleles being selected, and sometimes fixed, among elite cultivars. The aim to understand the basis of this genetic variation has encouraged analyses of the wheat genome and the identification of genes that influence these traits, and we anticipate there will be a vast number of new loci discovered and reported in coming years. Based on this anticipated expansion of reported loci, we propose an updated set of guidelines for designating names and symbols of genes for adoption by the wheat community. In this talk, I will explain the motivation to update the set of guidelines for naming newly discovered genes and introduce the basic principles for selecting a name for your “new baby wheat gene”.

Reference: Boden, S.A., McIntosh, R.A., Uauy, C. et al. Updated guidelines for gene nomenclature in wheat. Theor Appl Genet 136, 72 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-023-04253-w

7th of June, 3pm Berlin Time, 9am EDT

REGISTER:

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5761755820733132376

This is the fourth Webinar of the Expert Working Group on Wheat Pathogens:

Dr. Zhiyong Liu will present his talk titled: “Wheat disease resistance genes: from NLR to WTK”

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NmQ3MWYwYjYtM2UyZi00MmU5LWE3NWUtZjkxODY1YTFjMTc4%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%229da98bb1-1857-4cc3-8751-9a49e35d24cd%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2229719dd4-9895-4fd3-8e9e-b8827910d03e%22%7d

This is the third Webinar of the Expert Working Group on Wheat Pathogens:

Trends in Fusarium and Ergot in Canadian wheat from 1995

Sean Walkowiak PhD, Research Scientist at Canadian Grain Commission since 2019.

 Please join via:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OGY3MGZmMDMtZjgwZS00NmVkLWJkY2YtOGI1ZmU3ZWI2YTQ2%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%229da98bb1-1857-4cc3-8751-9a49e35d24cd%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2229719dd4-9895-4fd3-8e9e-b8827910d03e%22%7d

This is the second Webinar of the newly established Expert Working Group on Wheat Pathogens:

'Wheat blast: a potentially catastrophic disease threatening global food security

Md. Tofazzal Islam, a biotechnologist, ecological chemist, and professor and founding Director of Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (IBGE) of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Gazipur.

Thursday, 16th February 2023

8.00 am MST (4pm Berlin Time, 1.30am Adelaide Time) 

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_Y2U1ZWU5MjAtZGEwYi00NmEwLTgzNTQtMGRkZGNkYjg4OTI0%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%229da98bb1-1857-4cc3-8751-9a49e35d24cd%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2229719dd4-9895-4fd3-8e9e-b8827910d03e%22%7d

This is the first Webinar of the newly established Expert Working Group on Wheat Pathogens:

Dr. Tom Fetch, a stem rust pathologist who recently retired from AAFC Canada in 2022, will be discussing his experiences working on stem rust for over 30 years.

Thursday, 26th January 2023

11.00 am MST (7pm Berlin Time, 4.30am Adelaide Time) 

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MjhiYzJkODQtNjM3ZC00MmRiLTg4NGEtMTkxNTY3M2I5YTY0%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%229da98bb1-1857-4cc3-8751-9a49e35d24cd%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2229719dd4-9895-4fd3-8e9e-b8827910d03e%22%7d

Thu, Dec 15, 2022 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET

Presenter: Jason Fiedler, Research Geneticist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, USA Outline: Molecular breeding applies genetic information to predict performance and is a powerful tool for the rapid development of new and improved small grain germplasm. For efficient deployment, a durable, robust, high-throughput genotyping platform – with a short turnaround time and low cost – is required to inform selections within breeding programs. To meet these needs, we have developed a new multi-species platform based on the Illumina Infinium II array technology that targets approximately 3,000 SNPs in wheat, oat and barley each. These markers are evenly spaced along each genome, have a high information content, and include many known-informative markers already used for selection in breeding programs. Validation of this platform with ~10,000 previously genotyped wheat oat and barley lines highlighted very good technical performance and high concordance with most currently used platforms. At least 2,000 markers were informative within a given breeding program which is sufficient for the development of highly accurate genome prediction models. The platform is highly robust, requiring only 200 ng of DNA, with a short three-day turnaround time for usable data. The cereal grain content was added to a new 3,000 SNP Soy array and has been released as the USDA-SoyWheOatBar-3K, which is currently available for the public. This multi-species format also enables dual hybridization to decrease the per-sample cost. Line concordance between dual and single mode is over 95% for all SNPs and increases to over 98% with a subset of high-performing SNPs. This new platform will allow more breeding programs to use molecular tools in their pipeline and accelerate the release of varieties that can overcome the recurrent and emerging threats to our agricultural producers.

Programme

A Ug99 Stem Rust Update hybrid Zoom meeting in conjunction with the 2022 National FHB Forum in Tampa, FL on Dec. 4 at 8pm Eastern Time. Speakers will include Tim Widmer, Yue Jin, Allen Proxmire, Matt Rouse, Jeff Boehm, Jr., and Mary Guttieri. All are welcome to attend. See the attached file for a listing of the schedule and instructions for how to connect to the meeting.  For questions, please feel free to email me.

Thank you,

Bob Bowden, USDA-ARS, Manhattan, KS

Robert.Bowden(a)usda.gov

Yield gene cloning in wheat

Thu, Nov 17, 2022 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3145969272935101456

Presenter: Liuling Yan, Oklahoma State University, USA Outline: The spike architecture is one of the most important agronomic traits that influence grain yield in wheat (Triticum aestivum). In our recent study, we initially cloned a dominant allele TaCol-B5 on chromosome arm 7BL that increases the number of spikelets per spike in common wheat. The gene was named TaCol-B5 to be more consistent with its orthologue (CONSTANS-like 5) in other plant species. After cloned, TaCol-B5 showed association with increases in the length of the spike, the number of grains per spike, and the number of spikes per plant. When constitutively overexpressed, TaCol-B5 was found to enhance field-based grain yield by 11.9%. The natural variation between the two alleles relied on a single-nucleotide polymorphism that resulted in a critical amino acid substitution, so that TaCol-B5 protein but not Tacol-B5 protein was phosphorylated by the serine/threonine protein kinase TaK4. The edited Tacol-B5 gene, through CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, altered heading date and plant height. Another critical finding in this study is that the TaCol-B5 allele for higher grain yield was cloned from CItr17600, which is an accession from CIMMYT, but this allele was found in ancestral emmer wheat but only 2% of an international modern wheat variety panel (more than 1,600 accessions). The story on TaCol-B5 is not over yet but just a starting point in a roadmap for molecular improvement of grain yield. We will discuss about perspectives of TaCol-B5 in establishing ideal plant and spike architectures to increase grain yield in wheat. Reference: - Zhang X, Jia H, Li T, Wu J, Nagarajan R, Lei L, Powers C, Kan CC, Hua W, Liu Z, Chen C, Carver BF, Yan L. (2022) TaCol-B5 modifies spike architecture and enhances grain yield in wheat. Science. 376:180-183. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm0717