New tools for wheat stripe rust research
B. SCHWESSINGER (1), H. Yiheng (2), W. Cuddy (3), R. Park (3), J. Rathjen (2) (1) Australian National University, Australia; (2) Australian National University, Australia; (3) University of Sydney, Australia

Stripe rust of wheat, caused by the obligate biotrophic fungus Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is a major threat to wheat production world-wide with an estimated yearly loss of US$ 1 billion. Pst undergoes a complex multi-spore life-cycle and infects wheat during its asexual stage mostly via reinfection by dikaryotic urediniospores. The highly heterozygous genome together with its obligate biotrophic life-style has hindered progress in understanding the molecular and genetic mechanisms of Pst pathogenesis and evolution. Current genome assemblies are highly fragmented and unphased making downstream analysis at a whole genome level challenging. Here we present recent progress on genome assembly and annotation of two Australian Pst founder races using single molecule long read sequencing technologies. In addition, we will report on our advances in developing an in planta transformation system of Pst using the CRISPR-Cas9 system.

Abstract Number: P11-376
Session Type: Poster