Super resistance to tackle biggest disease

Without rust resistant wheat varieties the Australian wheat industry would lose up to $300 million per year in lost production due to rust infection.

CSIRO Plant Industry's Dr Rohit Mago has located four rust resistance genes that he will use together to breed a super stem rust-resistant wheat - at least four times more rust resistant than existing varieties.

With four resistance genes working together it is unlikely that a new strain of rust will develop that will be strong enough to counter all four resistance genes at once.

Dr Mago's Canberra based research located the genes with 'markers', allowing breeders to more quickly and easily identify if their new wheat variety has the rust resistance genes or not.

Markers are critical when using multiple genes as you can't rely on testing the plant for resistance by exposing it to rust as any one of the genes could provide initial resistance.

Three of the rust resistance genes were previously associated with negative yield and quality traits, but their new versions appear to not have these drawbacks.

Dr Mago has already bred plants with different combinations of two resistance genes and now hopes to combine three and four genes in the one wheat breeding line.

This collaborative research is supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation, Waite Institute in Adelaide, SA and the Plant Breeding Institute in Cobbitty, NSW.

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