Biotech Updates

CSIRO to Help Stop Rust Resistance in Wheat

August 15, 2008

Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has been subcontracted by Cornell University in the United States with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Development Program to do research as part of the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project. CSIRO will investigate Ug99, a strain of the fungus, wheat stem rust.

“Most crops in Asia’s major wheat growing areas are vulnerable to Ug99, so if it gets to these areas, food shortages and famine could result. Ug99 could also pose a bio-security threat to Australia”. The challenge is to now identify and deploy more multiple resistance gene combinations that protect wheat against Ug99 or find other ways to protect wheat from this fungus,” says Dr. Evans Lagudah, CSIRO’s expert in rust research.

Visit http://www.csiro.au/news/WheatSupplyCrisis.html for news details.