Co-lead author with the University of Sydney Ms Jianping Zhang, at CSIRO where she now works. Photo top of page: credit Jianping Zhang.

Researchers from the University of Sydney, CSIRO, the United Kingdom’s John Innes Centre, Limagrain UK and the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) have isolated the first major resistance genes against the stripe rust disease that is devastating wheat crops worldwide.

The discovery by the scientists, who have cloned three related rust resistance genes – called Yr7, Yr5, and YrSP – will enable these important genes to be accurately monitored and integrated into breeding programs in the fight against ever-changing pathogens that could kill about 70 percent or more of whole wheat crops at a time.

Wheat is relied on by more than one-third of the world’s population and one of the most economically important stable foods. Wheat rust is one of the most widespread and devastating diseases and stripe rust – which is bright yellow and shaped as stripes – is the most problematic of these pathogens worldwide because it easily adapts to different climates and environments. As well, there are not many effective genes that breeders can use in their varieties.

The characterisation of these three genes was made possible in a short period of time because of improving technology and the collaboration led out of Australia and the UK.

The University of Sydney’s cereal rust research team under the directorship of Professor Robert Park – a world-leader in wheat rust research – created mutation populations in 2015 and identified mutants for each gene, while unknowingly in parallel, scientists in the UK were working on two of the genes.

They found out about each other’s work at an international conference (the 13th International Wheat Genetics Symposium) in April 2017 and started collaborating.

The findings are published today in Nature Plants.