Genetic Dissection of Wheat-necrotrophic Pathogen Interactions
Justin Faris, Research Geneticist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, United States of America

Using genetics and genomics to dissect the components associated with disease in the wheat-Parastagonospora nodorum pathosystem, we have determined that the fungus produces numerous host-selective toxins that hijack different host disease ‘resistance’

EUCARPIA helps Linking the Art and Science of Plant Breeding
Beat Boller, President, EUCARPIA, Switzerland

EUCARPIA, the European Association for Research on Plant Breeding, provides the most prominent international platform for the exchange of information between geneticists and plant breeders. It thus helps in an unique way to bring advances in plant genomics to life in improved cultivars.

Evolution and Selection of Soybean Nematode Resistance Locus
Tong Geon Lee, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, United States of America

Copy number variation at the soybean nematode resistance locus has been selected for and retained in the population of wild soybean. The implication of evolution at this locus for population genetics revealed new potential sources of resistance.

Knowledge-Based Identification of Plant Stress Regulators
Lorenz Bülow, Bioinformatician and Database Manager, Institute for Breeding Research on Agricultural Crops, Germany

Transcriptomics, genomics and bioinformatics techniques were employed for the analysis of plant responses to abiotic and biotic stresses resulting in functional regulators that control expression of plant genes. (Co-authorship of Lorenz Bülow and Rienhard Hehl)

Novel Technologies for Studying Functional Genomics at the Level of Single Cells
David Galbraith, Professor, University of Arizona, United States of America

This presentation outlines means for analysis of the functions of different cell types within complex tissues and organs of higher eukaryotes. It will then discuss the additional differences that emerge when examination is done at the level of single cells.

Characterising Plant Genomes: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Dave Edwards, Professor, University of Western Australia, Australia

Plant genomes vary hugely in size and complexity which makes their assembly a challenge. I will discuss different approaches for genome assembly for different applications, and importantly, the validation of assembly quality.

Next Generation Genomics and Genetics for Accelerating Genetic Gain in Plant Breeding: Some Examples in Grain Legumes
Rajeev Varshney, Program Director, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics, India

Next generation sequencing (NGS) based technologies together with precise phenotyping methods are being used to identify the genetic basis of agriculturally important traits and predicting the breeding value of individuals in a plant breeding population. The approach would facilitate crop development with improved trait performance in modern plant breeding programs. Application of NGS based technologies to plant breeding will help us meet the challenge of feeding a growing world population.

Processing Contaminants: A Problem That Will Not Go Away For The Food Industry and on Which Plant Scientists and Breeders Must Engage
Nigel Halford, Programme Leader, Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom

This presentation will highlight the issue of food processing contaminants and the need for plant scientists and breeders to engage on the issue. It will also describe genetic and agronomic approaches to reducing the potential of wheat, rye and potato products to form acrylamide during cooking and processing.

Moving from Functional Genomics to Functional Improvement in Sorghum
Clifford Weil, Professor, Purdue University, United States of America

Developing and using sequence indexed, saturated collections of mutants allows us to understand the functions of nearly every gene. We have developed such a platform for sorghum, and will discuss it and ways to use this resource to make the long-promised functional improvements to both food and fuel crops.

Capturing D genome variation for wheat improvement
Eric Olson, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University, United States of America

The D genome of bread wheat, Triticum aestivum contains limited genetic diversity. The diploid D genome species, Aegilops tauschii is source of allelic variation for important disease resistance and agronomic traits.