Recipient Organization
BROAD INSTITUTE, INC.
7 CAMBRIDGE CENTER
CAMBRIDGE,MA 02142
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Puccinia triticina, the causative agent of wheat leaf rust (also known as brown rust of wheat), is one of the most serious diseases of wheat in North-America and throughout the world. Severe epidemics caused by leaf rust and stem rust, caused by the related species P. graminis f. sp. tritici, plague North-American wheat production. Wheat resistance to cereal rusts is precarious at all times, as new races evolve regularly and threaten sustainable crop production. By sequencing the genome of P. triticina and comparing it to that of P. graminis, we can define common features of rust fungi as well as those which make these two pathogens different. Rust fungi (Pucciniales) are obligate plant parasites with a wide range of plant hosts that include ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms. The order Pucciniales is comprised of more than 7000 species and is one of the most important groups of plant pathogens worldwide. This project will thus allow a wide community of researchers to use genomic approaches to elucidate the mechanisms of pathogenicity and the biotrophic life-style of rust fungi.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Puccinia triticina, the causative agent of wheat leaf rust (also known as brown rust of wheat), is one of the most serious diseases of wheat throughout the world. Severe epidemics caused by leaf rust and stem rust, caused by the related species P. graminis f. sp. tritici, plague North-American wheat production. Wheat resistance to cereal rusts is precarious at all times, as new races evolve regularly and threaten sustainable crop production. By sequencing the genome of P. triticina and comparing it to that of P. graminis, we can define common features of rust fungi as well as those which make these two pathogens different. This project will thus allow a wide community of researchers to use genomic approaches to elucidate the mechanisms of pathogenicity and the biotrophic life-style of rust fungi. The objectives of this proposal are to sequence and assemble the genome of P. triticina isolate 1-1, Race 1 (BBBD), annotate genes using newly generated and available ESTs and computational methods, evaluate polymorphism compared to three additional isolates, publicly release all data, and develop education, training, and outreach programs. The successful completion of this project will primarily impact the scientific community by providing information on the genome and expression of an important fungal plant pathogen. A broader impact of this research will be the potential to develop novel new methods for control of rust diseases on cereal and other crops through a better understanding of the basic infection mechanism and disease process of obligate plant-parasitic fungi. An un-annotated genome is, by itself, of limited utility. To make sequence data maximally useful to the scientific community it is necessary to both identify genes and other features and to provide tools that facilitate access to the data. The BI has built and maintains the infrastructure and expertise required to perform automated annotation on a genome-wide basis, and to distribute it to the community in an easily accessible format. Our whole genome annotation uses both evidence-based (including cDNA, EST, and homology data) and ab initio methods. Using this system we have released whole genome annotations of 19 fungi (http://www.broad.mit.edu/annotation/fgi/). We aim to use Illumina/Solexa data to call polymorphisms within three additional isolates representing other important races, each with varying levels of virulence, and all collected from the Great Plains. We propose to generate 10-fold sequence depth of the two parents of a cross which has been used for the generation of a mapping population. The parents are Race 161 (FBDS) and Race 9 (SBDG), both are Canadian isolates from the Manitoba area in the early 1960s and likely originated from the Southern Great Plains (14).
Project Methods
The specific objectives of this proposal are to: (1) Sequence and assemble the complete genome of P. triticina isolate 1-1, Race 1 (BBBD), which is estimated to be between 100 - 120 Mb, using a hybrid of 454 and ABI (Sanger) Fosmid-end sequence; (2) Annotate gene structure using computational methods, 200,000 454 reads of ESTs from each of four new cDNA libraries, and other available ESTs; (3) Evaluate P. triticina polymorphism and diversity by comparing the sequenced strain with three additional isolates using Illumina/Solexa sequence; (4) Promptly public release of all reads, assemblies, annotation, and discovered polymorphisms; and (5) Develop education, training and outreach programs.