A: Cereal Rust Research.
In June three staff members of the department of Plant Sciences attended the 3rd Technical Workshop of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative in St. Paul, Minnesota. Prof ZA Pretorius, Dr Renée Prins (affiliated) and Ms Cornel Bender (cluster-sponsored) authored and co-authored five presentations on topics such as wheat stem rust resistance phenotyping, QTL detection for stripe rust resistance, stem rust race analysis and global surveillance systems for monitoring movement of rust diseases. The meeting was attended by more than 200 wheat scientists from all over the world.
Research Outputs:
Agenbag, G., Pretorius, Z.A., Boyd, L.A., Bender, C.M. & Prins, R. 2011. Dissecting adult plant stripe rust resistance in the wheat cultivar Cappell Desprez. BGRI Technical Workshop, St. Paul, MN (13-16 June) (poster).
Bender, C.M., Pretorius, Z.A. & Prins, R. 2011. Adult plant stem rust responses of a doubled haploid wheat population tested under greenhouse conditions. BGRI Technical Workshop, St. Paul, MN (13-16 June) (poster).
Hodson, D.P., Nazari, K., Park, R.F., Hansen, J., Lassen, P., Arista, J., Fetch, T., Hovmoller, M., Jin, Y., Pretorius, Z.A. & Sonder, K. 2011. Putting Ug99 on the map: an update on current and future monitoring. BGRI Technical Workshop, St. Paul, MN (13-16 June) (oral presentation by DPH).
Pretorius, Z.A. & Negussie, T. 2011. The expression of Sr21 to South African Ug99 and related races. BGRI Technical Workshop, St. Paul, MN (13-16 June) (poster).
Terefe, T. & Pretorius, Z.A. 2011. Races of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici detected in South Africa in 2010. BGRI Technical Workshop, St. Paul, MN (13-16 June) (poster).
B: Cereal Rust Post-doctoral Fellowhip
Dr Tadesse participated in projects on stem rust resistance in Australian wheat varieties, stem and leaf rust resistance in SA wheats, stem rust resistance in SA barley, and stem rust resistance in the John Innes Centre African Wheat Collection. In addition he completed a study on the expression of Sr9e and Sr21 to Ug99 (race PTKST) and commenced a microscopy study of stripe rust histopathology in wheat lines with particular resistance gene combinations. Two papers were accepted for publication in 2012 (not listed here) and a draft manuscript of a third was completed. Other ouptuts of the cereal rust programme are shown below.
Research Outputs:
Heyns, I., Pretorius, Z.A. & Marais, F. 2011. Derivation and characterization of recombinants of the Lr54/Yr37 translocation in common wheat. The Open Plant Science Journal 5:1-8.
Mago, R., Tabe, L., McIntosh, R.A., Pretorius, Z.A., Kota, R., Paux, E., Wicker, T., Breen, J., Lagudah, E.S., Ellis, J.G & Spielmeyer, W. 2011. A multiple resistance locus on chromosome arm 3BS in wheat confers resistance to stem rust (Sr2), leaf rust (Lr27), and powdery mildew. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 123(4):615-623. DOI 10.1007/s00122-011-1611-y.
McIntosh, R.A. & Pretorius, Z.A. 2011. Borlaug Global Rust Initiative provides momentum for wheat rust research. Euphytica 179:1-2. DOI 10.1007/s10681-011-0389-y.
Mukoyi, F., Soko, T., Mulima, E., Mutari, B., Hodson, D., Herselman, L., Visser, B. & Pretorius, Z.A. 2011. Detection of variants of wheat stem rust race Ug99 (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici) in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Plant Disease 95:1188 DOI:10.1094/PDIS-04-11-0300.
Park, R.F., Fetch, T., Hodson, G., Jin, Y., Nazari, K., Prashar, M. & Pretorius, Z.A. 2011. International surveillance of wheat rust pathogens: progress and challenges. Euphytica 179:109-117. DOI 10.1007/s 10681-011-0375-4.
Prins, R., Pretorius, Z.A., Bender, C.M. & Lehmensiek, A. 2011. QTL mapping of stripe, leaf and stem rust resistance genes in a Kariega x Avocet S doubled haploid wheat population. Molecular Breeding 27: 259-270. DOI 10.1007/s11032-010-9428-y.
Terefe, T., Pretorius, Z.A., Bender, C.M., Visser, B., Herselman, L. & Negussie, T. 2011. First report of a new wheat leaf rust (Puccinia triticina) race with virulence for Lr12, 13, and 37 in South Africa. Plant Disease 95:611.
Visser, B., Herselman, L., Park, R.F., Karaoglu, H., Bender, C.M. & Pretorius, Z.A. 2011. Characterization of two new Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici races within the Ug99 lineage in South Africa. Euphytica 179:119-127. DOI: 10.1007/s10681-010-0269-x.