International Wheat Conference
Faouzi Bekkaoui
Sydney Australia, 25 September 2015
1
Presentation Outline
•
•
•
•
Wheat in Canada
Goal of Canadian Wheat Alliance
Pillars objectives – projects update
CWA collaborations
Wheat: A Canadian Perspective
• Production 2013: 37.5M tonnes [global production
~650M tonnes] - 6th largest producer
• Third largest exporter - 19.6M tonnes in 2013,
valued at $6.7B
o Saskatchewan province alone produced 34% of
the world’s durum exports
3
Start Nationally – aligning Canadian
public effort
2012-2022
Members: Agri-Food and Agriculture Canada
(AAFC), University of Saskatchewan (Crop
Development Centre), National Research Council
(NRC), and the Government of Saskatchewan
~ $95M committed for the first 5 years, with an overall
11 year commitment to align complementary
expertise and capacity in high priority research areas
4
CWA Goal
Improve the yield, sustainability, and profitability
of wheat for the benefit of the Canadian farmers
and economy
5
Locations of CWA Research Teams
-
53 Scientists
-
125 FTE
-
48 projects
Moncton, NB
Edmonton, AB
Saskatoon,
SK
Summerland,
BC
Lethbridge, AB
Swift Current, SK
6
Fredericton, NB
Morden, MB
Montreal, QC
Ottawa, ON
Charlottetown, PE
Halifax, NS
Current CWA activities along the
development pipeline
Novel
germplasm
Improved
Varieties
Increased
Yield
*Outputs from existing activities will be incorporated
into novel germplasm/improved varieties
7
1- Genomics-Assisted Breeding (GAB)
NRC : A Sharpe (Pillar lead), P Fobert, J Nowak, Y Pan, D Tulpan
AAFC: R Knox, Y Ruan, R Cuthbert, M Jordan, C McCartney, T Ouellet, G
Fedak
UofS/CDC: C Pozniak, B Fowler
•
Objective: To improve genomic resources to speed up gene
discovery, novel trait identification and validation, and marker
assisted breeding
•
Eight Projects
•
Project Example: Generating Strategic Genome
Sequence Data for Wheat
Cold tolerance in wheat
Objective: Build genomic
resources for comparative analyses
of cold tolerance in wheat and rye.
Accomplishments:
• High molecular weight DNA
isolation protocol from cereal
nuclei optimized (yield ~ 1 mg).
• Protocol for making many
diverse mate-pair libraries
developed and successfully
deployed.
• Whole chromosome shotgun
assemblies for winter wheat
chromosome 5A and rye
chromosome arm 5RL with
groundbreaking contiguity.
Collaborations:
• Chromosomal flow-sorting and
amplification – Jaroslav Dolezal,
Institute of Experimental botany,
Czech Republic.
D. Konkin, B Fowler, A. Sharpe
2-Wheat Improvement through Cell Technologies (WICT)
NRC: P Polowick (Pillar Lead), A Ferrie, J Hammerlindl, U
Hemraz, A Kell, E Marillia
AAFC: F Eudes
•
Objective: To deliver efficient low cost cell
technologies that accelerate the development of superior
wheat cultivars
•
Six projects
•
Project Example: Development of an isolated
microspore culture system for spring and winter wheat
Wheat microspore culture-doubled haploidy
Spring wheat
• Breeders goal- 15 green plants/spike
With new conditions—
• Success with 9 of 12 cultivars
• Conversion of embryos to green plants at 20
- 70/spike with best cultivars
Potential impact: Reducing breeding costs and Shortening breeding cycle by 2-4
years
11
A. Ferrie & F. Eudes
3- Enhanced Fusarium and Rust Tolerance (EFRT)
NRC: M Loewen, (Pillar Lead), P Fobert, R Purves, A Sharpe, I Zaharia, Y Pan, P Vrinten,
M Cuperlovic‐Culf, Y Wang
AAFC: G Bakkeren, A Laroche, N Foroud, H Randhawa, M Jordan, B McCallum, C
Hiebert, C McCartney, L Harris, T Ouellet, J Singh, G Subramaniam,
UofS /CDC: C Pozniak
• Objective: To characterize genes, proteins and metabolites involved in microbial
pathogen resistance, and develop tools for accelerated breeding of durable
resistance against fusarium and rust.
• 17 projects
• Project example: Mechanistic Characterization of Durable Rust Resistance
EFRT: Lr34Sus de-orphanized and
differentiated from Lr34Res
Potential impact: Understanding the mode of action of rust tolerance that will allow
the design of new molecular breeding strategies to reduce rust disease
M. Loewen
4-Improving Abiotic Stress Tolerance
NRC: J Zou (Pillar Lead), A Cutler, R Datla, Y Pan, G Selvaraj
AAFC: R Cuthbert, Y Ruan, R Knox, H Wang
UofS: B Fowler
• Objective: To improve drought, heat and cold tolerance of
wheat
• Eight projects
• Project example: Selecting candidate genes for introgression of
drought/heat stress traits in spring bread wheat and durum
Toward improving drought tolerance in Canadian wheat (1)
•
•
•
Identify drought-related traits in wheat germplasm
Investigate the genetic underpinnings of prioritized traits
Develop molecular tools to aid breeding for drought tolerance
Example: Pelissier has more robust roots
• Scalable phenotyping in a standard greenhouse
• Roots can be retrieved at desired phenological
stages
Pelissier
Strongfield
15
Toward improving drought tolerance in Canadian wheat (2)
•
Established a whole phenology phenotyping platform in a
standard greenhouse that will allow assessment of roots
•
The highest acreage cultivar Strongfield is better than the older
cultivar Pelissier for photosynthesis (both durum wheat)
•
Pelissier has greater drought tolerance traits: root biomass;
WUE; grain yield under stress, in contrast to Strongfield
•
A genetic map of Pelissier X Strongfield was constructed.
•
Transcriptome analysis of selected organ/tissue was performed
for gene discovery and pathway analysis.
G. Selvaraj
16
5-Targeting Developmental Pathways to Improve Performance
and Yield in Wheat (Development Pilar)
NRC: R Datla, NRC (Pillar Lead), E Wang, J Nowak
UofS/CDC: C Pozniak
AAFC: J Singh, M Jordan, L Robert, A Laroche, G Subramaniam, R
Cuthbert
Objective: Genetic improvement of productivity in wheat
Four Projects.
Project example: Gene expression atlas of whet seed development
Developmental Analysis of Wheat Grain (1)
18
(A) Isolated embryo sac (ES) free nuclear endosperm (En) and embryo (Em). Mid-stage (B) and latestage (C) grain with part of the pericarp (PC)). (D) Mature wheat grain with fully formed bran that
includes the pericarp and the seed coat layers. (E) two-cell; (F) four-cell; (G) eight-cell embryos (H) In
the transition stage embryo, a laterally placed region of proliferating cells (red circle) marks the site of
the scutellum and meristem formation. (I) Scutellar embryo stages show the scutellum (SC), coleoptile
(CP), shoot apical meristem (SAM) and the associated leaf primordium (LP) formation, epiblast (EPI)
and coleorhiza (CR). (J) Mature embryo
Key findings from grain transcriptome studies (2)
• 65-70% of annotated genes expressed during grain development
in hexaploid (AABBDD), tetraploid (AABB) and diploid (AA)
genomes
• Dominantly or differentially expressed genes identified in
endosperm, embryo and pericarp tissues
• Genes highly expressed in embryo or endosperm or pericarp
display similar pattern between species
• Significant number of orthologues display differential expression
R. Datla
6-Beneficial Biotic Interactions (BBI)
NRC: S Hemmingsen (Pillar Lead), C Greer, S MacKinnon, L
Masson, A Sharpe
AAFC: T Dumonceaux, M Fernandez, M Links, A Mills, R Martin
UofS/CDC: C Pozniak
• Objective: To improve nutrient-use efficiency and plant health
through understanding and managing relationships between
beneficial microorganisms and wheat
• Six projects
• Project Example: Effects of fertilizer use on wheatassociated microbial communities
Historical ABC Rotation – Lethbridge, AB
Effects of long-term fertilization and
crop rotation regimes on soil,
rhizosphere, and rhizoplane
microbial communities
Established in 1911
Rotations
A: Continuous wheat
B: Wheat – Fallow
C: Wheat – Wheat – Fallow
Fertilizer Treatments
Check
no fertilizer
P
phosphate only
N+P
nitrogen + phosphate
N
nitrogen only
B. Helgason
Potential impact: Improving soil health and reducing fertilizer input
CWA Collaborations
• KWS & Syngenta: to develop an efficient
microspore based DH system in Spring and Winter
wheat
• CIMMYT: to reduce the effects of wheat rust
diseases and of Fusarium head blight in Durum
wheat
• Germany collaboration (FusResist): to improve
Fusarium resistance in wheat
22
Acknowledgements
•
•
23
Research team
Funding partners
CWA Management Committee Members
Jalil Abdul (Government of SK)
Faouzi Bekkaoui (NRC), Chair
George Clayton (AAFC)
Felicitas Katepa-Mupondwa(AAFC)
Jerome Konecsni (Government of SK)
Bob Tyler (U of S)
Graham Scoles (U of S)
Donna Viger (NRC)
Faouzi.Bekkaoui@nrc-cncrc.gc.ca
http://canadianwheatalliance.ca/
2
4
24