Biotech Updates

UQ Research Fund to Study Canola Blackleg Disease

September 25, 2009

Australia is the second largest exporter of canola, second to Canada, and hopes to improve this status once the Blackleg disease of canola is controlled. The Blackleg disease is caused by a fungal pathogen and has been damaging Australian canola resulting to 15 percent annual loss amounting to $500 million.

Dr. Jacqueline Batley of the School of Land, Crop and Food Sciences of the University of Queensland has been awarded the UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award that carries a $70,000 grant. The funds will be used to investigate susceptibility of canola to the pathogen and to use the latest gene sequencing technologies to discover disease resistance genes in wild Brassica. The research will also help reduce the impact of the disease in other species such as wheat and will serve as a model to understand plant-pathogen interactions in other major Australian crops.

For details, view the article at http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=19683