CPSC Lecture with Brande Wulff

Genetic diversity for disease resistance has been eroded in bread wheat through polyploidisation, domestication and breeding. We have developed sequence-configured panels of wheat and its wild progenitors for high-throughput identification of disease resistance genes by association mapping or mutational genomics. We identified six resistance genes encoding kinase fusion proteins and started to unravel their mechanism.

Cloned resistance genes can speed up resistance breeding through generation of GM stacks in combination with speed breeding. The recent deregulation of the drought tolerant HB4 wheat has lowered the barrier for introducing GM stacks. We propose internationally coordinated efforts to clone and characterize wheat resistance genes to facilitate a more judicious deployment of resistance genes in GM and conventional breeding programmes.

Brande is a molecular plant pathologist and geneticist. He uses high throughput DNA sequencing and bioinformatics to identify genes restricting major diseases of wheat. His long-term aim is to use cloned genes from wild ancestors of wheat to engineer durable resistance to these diseases in cultivated wheat.

In 2021, Brande moved to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. Prior to this he worked for ten years in the John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, UK.

Time and place

24 September 2025, 10:00-11:00

Room 117 (H+K+M), Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871 Frederiksberg