The U.S. Department of Agriculture is betting on a new high-throughput, molecular-based breeding program to help it win a 7-year battle against a devastating rust plague. Last week, a consortium of 20 university and government labs received $5 million to pinpoint genes that provide resistance to the rust. Researchers will find genes using known markers, or landmarks, on wheat chromosomes near these genes.
Starting with a few dozen of these markers, scientists hope to identify tens of thousands of them over the next 4 years, says project director Jorge Dubcovsky of the University of California, Davis. The markers should accelerate the development of strains with multiple disease-resistant genes, higher gluten content, and increased yield. "The sooner we can solve the disease issue, the better for the growers," says Bonnie Fernandez, executive director of the California Wheat Commission in Woodland. Dubcovsky says the first strains
may on sale by 2008.
