Genomic Approaches to Understanding Disease Resistance and Applications to Wheat Improvement

Current sequencing technology is leading to a greater understanding of plant disease and novel approaches for crop improvement. Although initial high-throughput sequencing steps can be expensive, the downstream products for breeder use can be low cost and easy to utilize. Two new approaches for addressing Hessian fly-resistance in wheat will be given as examples of augmenting plant breeding through use of molecular tools. One approach combines bulked-segregant analysis with SNP discovery through genotyping-by-sequencing to target an unmarked region carrying a highly effective resistance gene, H33. The resulting SNP sequences were used to design KASP markers. The second approach describes progress toward designing a new mechanism of resistance through promoter characterization and antisense technology.