Investment

Rusts are a common fungal disease of plants, including many of Australia's cereal and horticultural crops. They are prevalent in most wheat growing areas around the world, threatening global wheat yields. Rusts are highly adaptable and evolve to overcome resistance.

This project builds on longstanding work focussed on reducing the impact of rust diseases in cereals, particularly in areas of high disease risk, by ensuring genetic diversity and enabling rapid response to sudden pathogen changes. Samples of rusted cereals will be sourced from across Australia and analysed in greenhouse tests to determine virulence on important rust resistance genes. Improvements in sequencing technologies and concurrent reductions in cost mean that it is now possible to decode rust genomes to develop powerful diagnostic tools and unravel the molecular bases of host: pathogen interactions, leading to improved rust control.