What is the genetic basis for adaptation of barley to the Nordic climate?
A collection of about 210 barley cultivars and breeding
lines of mostly Norwegian and Scandinavian origin has
recently been genotyped with 7 000 SNP markers. An
association mapping approach will be taken to identify
the main genetic loci for heading date and plant height in
the Norwegian barley material.
Two traits of likely big importance for resistance to
Fusarium will be investigated under controlled conditions
in the greenhouse: cleistogamy and flowering in the boot.
Cleistogamy means closed flowering, and in cultivars
with this trait, the pollen is shed and the stigma is
fertilized without opening of the floret. In this way, the
Fusarium pathogen is not able to infect, and the cultivars
appear more resistant. We have indications that this trait
is common among Norwegian 6-row cultivars.
Another disease escape mechanism seem to be important in
some 2-row varieties, and that is to complete the flowering
before the emergence of the spike.
In this master thesis, the student will evaluate these important
traits in the Norwegian barley material under both controlled
conditions in the greenhouse and in the field. The student will
also be involved in testing of the same barley material against
Fusarium resistance in mist-irrigated field trials.
The student will learn to use advanced statistical methods to
analyse large data sets with SNP markers and phenotypic data,
and get experience with growing plants in greenhouse and
field trials.
Supervisors:
Morten Lillemo (morten.lillemo@nmbu.no)
Åsmund Bjørnstad (asmund.bjornstad@nmbu.no)
Other exciting topics in cereal genetics include:
Functional characterization and transcriptomic analysis of important Fusarium head
blight resistance genes in wheat, based on greenhouse and laboratory experiments with
near-isogenic lines (NILs), using precise inoculation methods and deep RNA-sequencing
of the transcriptome of resistant and susceptible NILs upon infection with Fusarium
graminearum. The aim is to identify the mechanisms behind an important FHB resistance
QTL on chromosome 2DLc in wheat.
Development of high-throughput SNP marker assays for powdery mildew resistance in
wheat, based on analysis of high-density SNP chip data with existing data on powdery
mildew resistance in a panel of 288 Norwegian spring wheat lines, and design of KASP
marker assays for validation on breeding material from the Graminor wheat breeding
program.
Identification of the main genetic factors behind stripe rust resistance in Norwegian
wheat. Stripe rust is one of the most yield-reducing wheat diseases globally that has
recently re-emerged as an important disease in Norway. In this MSc thesis project, the
student will participate in scoring of stripe rust reactions on wheat cultivars and
breeding lines in field trials of spring and winter wheat, and make use of high-density
SNP marker data to perform genome-wide association mapping to identify the
underlying genetic loci for resistance in the Norwegian wheat material.
What are the main genes for pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) resistance in
Norwegian wheat? Here, the MSc student will be involved in field and
greenhouse evaluation of PHS resistance in Norwegian wheat cultivars and
breeding lines, and conduct genome-wide association mapping based on highdensity SNP marker data. This will be done in collaboration with the cereal
production and quality group (Prof. Anne Kjersti Uhlen) and this topic is
described in more details under their section.
For further information on the above topics, please contact Morten Lillemo: morten.lillemo@nmbu.no