Wheat rust resistance research at CSIRO

Abstract

Although chemical control is available for rust diseases in wheat, economic and environmental factors favour genetic solutions. Maintenance and improvement of levels of resistance and durability of the genetic control of the 3 wheat rust diseases will occur with the application of DNA markers for pyramiding resistance genes. Information about the molecular basis of rust resistance, including durable, adult-plant resistance, coming from studies in model species such as flax and flax rust and from studies of wheat and barley, will provide knowledge for new biotechnological approaches to rust resistance. Increasing cereal gene sequence data will improve the efficiency of cloning disease resistance genes and, together with the rapid progress in understanding the molecular basis of rust resistance, will make it possible to construct transgenic plants with multiple rust resistance genes at a single locus, which will provide efficient breeding and increased durability of rust resistance.