description
- Throughout history, disease epidemics have been ubiquitous in agriculture. Yellow rust is a major fungal disease of wheat. In recent years, new isolates of the pathogen have caused wide-scale epidemics in Europe, Africa and the Americas. The identification of genes conferring resistance to yellow rust and the development of new resistant wheat varieties is essential to counter this threat. The landrace ancestors of our elite wheat varieties represent a rich source of genetic variation with huge potential for improving disease resistance. Identification and manipulation of genes underpinning this variation will help to sustainably increase yields and secure global food security. The project's overarching long-term objective is to understand the genetic basis of yellow rust immunity in wheat landraces and combine this resistance in cultivated bread wheat in ways that would promote the durability of the resistance.