Disease resistance in plants: Oat
Genetic analysis of septoria leaf blotch in oat
Combine your passion for agriculture, plant science and bioinformatics to investigate the genetics of septoria leaf blotch to aid the development of resistant oat varieties.
Oat is Australia's fourth largest cereal crop. Its demand is growing significantly driven mainly by changing dietary preferences in Asia due to its health benefits.
Septoria leaf blotch is an important oat disease especially in Western Australia. The Septoria pathogen population is diverse and the architecture of genetic resistance is likely to be complex, making breeding for durable resistance difficult using the conventional method.
Marker-assisted selection and genomic selection are promising approaches that could significantly increase the rate of genetic gain leading to the development of resistant oat varieties.
In this honours project, your research will be mainly computer-based, for example, using existing software to analyse phenotypic data and DNA sequence data for genome-wide association mapping and genomic selection.
You will have an opportunity to use the University of Adelaide’s Phoenix High Performance Computer.
Alternatively, a specific project can be tailored to suit your interests within the following areas: genetic mapping; and bioinformatic analysis of NBS-LRR gene family.
Techniques/skills
You will learn about:
- Analysis of phenotypic data - disease resistance etc.
- Analysis of next-generation sequencing data
- Bioinformatics
- Biostatistics - Bayesian model, machine learning etc.
Supervisor
Research area:
Plant genetics and bioinformatics, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
Recommended honours enrolment: Honours in Plant Science