1. OAT RUST RESEARCH at the PLANT BREEDING INSTITUTE PROF. ROBERT F. PARK ADJ. ASSOC. PROF. COLIN WELLINGS DR. HAYDAR KARAOGLU DR. DAVINDER SINGH ADRIAN CABRAL

2. Team members Prof. Robert F. Park (GRDC Chair-Cereal Rust Research), Director of the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program Adj. Assoc. Prof. Colin Wellings (NSW DPI -seconded to Univ. of Sydney) Dr. Davinder Singh (Postdoctoral Fellow, oats, wheat and barley)

3. Research Areas pathogen variability pathogenicity surveys (Prof Park and Dr Wellings) genetic variation (with Dr. Karaoglu) genetics of resistance to crown rust seedling (Australian oat cultivars + OCR differentials) APR : more than 50 accessions (6x) identified, 7 selected are being mapped in SSD populations genetics of resistance to stem rust seedling (several sources of effective resistance being characterised) APR (several sources being characterised)

4. Research Areas contd pre breeding, APR to crown rust: single backcross approach- Portage/MN 841837//Riel Portage/MN 841837//Nobby seed will be made available to breeders proof of concept (can the single backcross approach, used to accumulate minor genes for rust resistance in wheat, be successfully applied to oats?) APR Donor 1 APR Donor 2 2-300 BCF 1 F1F1 Adapted Parent Bulk Recurrent Selection for Agronomic type and Rust resistance X Single Spike Selections

5. Genetic variability in oat rusts Dr. Haydar Karaoglu (Molecular biologist) Long term Aim: develop SSR markers for 5 pathogenic species of Puccinia i.e., Pgt, Pt, Pst, Pca and Ph. Current work: developing markers for the stem rust P. graminis (Pgt) and if applicable for Pgs (rye), Pga, Pgl (rye grass), Pgt x Pgs (Scabrum rust) Pst and Psh (Barley grass yellow rust) Progress to date: - total of 11,731 SSRs (Di to hexanucleotides) identified from Pgt genome - developed 20 polymorphic SSR markers for Pgt - Ten SSRs (3%) amplify OCR - polymorphism to be tested Methodology: -Identify/download most abundant SSRs from the sequenced Pgt genome using Python find; develop SSR markers using Oligo 6 software. -Apply the developed markers for pathogen variability of all Australian isolates

6. Adrian Cabral – crown rust 2 nd Year PhD. Candidate Thesis: Genetics of Host: pathogen interaction in wild and cultivated Avena: P coronata f. sp. avenae. SSR variability studies in 2x and 4x wild oat accessions genetic analysis of resistance to Pca in 2x and 4x accessions multipathotype tests of 2x, 4x & 6x accessions to characterise resistance to Pca and Pga APR to Pca in selected accessions mapping studies

7. Overall.. - No SSR polymorphisms has been detected among Australian oat cultivars Current - Future - Development of SSR markers for Australian wild oats - Develop linked markers-Mapping of APR genes to Pc genes - Seedling OCR markers to be identified/procured Long term objectives - Tease out OCR seedling resistance genes-create single gene stocks & map - Utilise DArT Adrian Cabral – crown rust