The Quest for Rust-Proof Wheat

An international team of researchers have pinpointed a wheat gene that provides resistance to stripe rust, a fungal disease that causes millions of dollars of yield losses annually. The gene Yr36, which was identified in a wild wheat strain collected from Israel, was transferred to modern pasta and bread wheat varieties. Tests showed that the transformed plants were resistant to at least eight races of the stripe rust-causing fungus, Puccinia striiformis.

For more information on the research, visit http://www.jic.ac.uk/corporate/media-and-public/current-releases/090219wheatyieldlosses.htm and http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2009/090219.2.htm

On a separate study, researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia and the University of Zurich in Switzerland have identified a wheat gene sequence which provides protection against leaf rust, stripe rust and powdery mildew. The rust-resistance wheat gene Lr34 encodes a type of transmembrane transport protein called an ATP-binding cassette (ABC transporter). Whereas one gene usually only protects against a single disease for a limited time under commercial production, Lr34 provides long lasting disease resistance and acts against multiple diseases.

The complete paper published by Science is available to subscribers at http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1166453 For more information, read http://www.csiro.au/news/Saving-wheat-crops-worldwide.html