DNA testing could enable rapid response to damaging wheat stem rust

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A global team led by researchers in Australia has achieved a dramatic breakthrough in dealing with stem rust, a fungal pathogen that causes widespread damage to wheat.

For the first time, agricultural scientists have been able determine what’s going on at the gene level of the rust pathogen, allowing them to quickly detect its presence in a crop so that farmers can rapidly respond to the threat with fungicides.

Previously, the testing process required greenhouse facilities and took several weeks, by which time the pathogen might have destroyed a farmer’s crop or spread to other fields. Now technicians can identify the presence of the pathogen in a matter of hours, using a DNA lab test.

Though the research has immediate benefits for farmers, it also holds the promise for greater insight into a destructive and highly adaptive pathogen that has plagued wheat farmers since perhaps Biblical times.

This new method of genetic testing will also facilitate pathogen detection in crops being grown in developing nations, which often lack access to the greenhouses required by previous testing procedures.

[Editor’s note: Read the full study (behind paywall)]

Read full, original post: Research breakthrough will help protect world’s wheat crop

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