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December 8, 2009
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December 2009 BGRI E-Newsletter
Message from Ronnie Coffman, vice chair of the BGRI
Dear colleagues,
This is the inaugural edition of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) quarterly newsletter. As you know, Dr. Norman Borlaug passed away in September, but his legacy lives on through efforts like the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative to promote wheat research for the world's poor. Dr. Borlaug was Chair of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, and we are very honored and pleased that his daughter, Jeanie Borlaug Laube, has succeeded him as chair. Ms. Laube, who lives in Texas, recently attended a Texas A&M football game where her father was honored and where it was announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had made a $1 million endowment contribution to the Norman Borlaug International Scholars fund.
If you are receiving this newsletter, you are already a member of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, which is a global advocacy platform dedicated to reducing the world's vulnerability to stem, yellow, and leaf rusts of wheat and to facilitating the evolution of a sustainable international system to contain the threat of wheat rusts and enhance wheat productivity to withstand future global threats to wheat. Any person or institution with an interest or stake in wheat rust research and development is welcome to be a member of the BGRI - just send a message to bgri@cornell.edu indicating your interest, and you will be added to our listserv.
The quarterly newsletter aims to inform members of BGRI activities and the happenings in the wheat rust community. The BGRI is an umbrella organization, representing many different countries, institutions, and projects that are working to mitigate rust threats all over the world. Information about wheat rust projects and 'who's who' in the wheat rust world can be found on the BGRI website here.
Let us know of projects you're working on, and if you have news you'd like to announce in the newsletter, we'll happily include it. Send your news to bgri@cornell.edu. This newsletter reaches more than 500 researchers and administrators at over 100 institutions in more than 50 countries - the best and the brightest in the wheat rust world!
Editorial: Stem rust race typing: a case for using a common nomenclature system,
by Zak Pretorius, University of Free State, South Africa
Stem rust race typing is done primarily to determine the virulence profile of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici in a region or country. This information tells the wheat breeder which Sr genes are effective and how variable the rust population is in a region. If stored properly, these races (pathotypes), are extremely valuable resources in, e.g., screening of germplasm, resistance gene postulation and studies of host genetics and pathogen diversity.
One of the issues in analyzing pathogenic variability in the wheat stem rust fungus is the naming of races. Although the letter code used by North American (NA) rust workers is most commonly used throughout the world, several other systems are also employed. Some of these systems were developed over many years and serve as reference points to the original Stakman differential set or other tester lines with race differentiating capacity. In addition, the use of any system for a long period of time allows for continuity in monitoring stem rust populations and thus interpreting evolutionary changes in the region of interest.
However, it will be to the advantage of all rust workers if a core set of Sr genes is used world-wide and if the reaction profile of this set can be communicated in a mutually understood language. At the BGRI Technical Workshop held in Cd. Obregon, Mexico earlier this year, it was proposed that NA nomenclature be used for this purpose. The decision was based on the fact that most labs engaged in stem rust race typing already use the NA codes. It was also emphasized that labs are not asked to abandon their own systems, but that the NA differentials are added to their sets if not included already. This may increase the number of differentials in certain cases, but will allow the important continuation of in-house nomenclature systems and communication of the NA letter code.
Based on experiences in different labs, the NA entries recently were reviewed and replaced where necessary with Sr gene lines known to have clear differentiating ability. Dr. Tom Fetch of AAFC in Winnipeg was tasked with assembling and increasing these lines. Once this differential set has been validated for phenotype, large-scale seed increases and distribution will follow. Hopefully, these endeavors will add to a common language for all stem rust workers. It should be noted that whereas the composition and genetic purity of an international stem rust differential set are the first steps, other aspects such as good infrastructure, experience in knowing the low reaction of each Sr gene, environmental sensitivity, and consistently obtaining accurate infection types, are crucial to a robust, global system. Furthermore, the development of near-isogenic lines in a common background, similar to the Thatcher wheat leaf rust lines, will also improve our work.
The NA differentials contain 20 genotypes, arranged in five subsets of four each, always in the same order (see Table) (Jin et al., 2008, Plant Dis. 92:923-926). The reaction pattern across each subset is determined according to the low (L, infection type < 3 on the 0 to 4 scale) or high (H, infection ≥ 3) response displayed by each differential to a stem rust isolate. A letter (consonants only) is then allocated to the particular reaction pattern, resulting in a five-letter race code when all subsets are considered. For example, a 'G' refers to a 'LHLL' reaction profile, a 'P' to 'HLHH', etc. The original Ug99 can thus be translated to TTKSK, indicating that only Sr24, Sr36 and SrTmp show low reactions to this race. Other races in the Ug99 group are classified as TTKST (avirulent for Sr36 and SrTmp), TTTSK (avirulent for Sr24 and SrTmp), TTKSF (avirulent Sr24, Sr31, Sr36 and SrTmp) and TTKSP (avirulent for Sr31, Sr36 and SrTmp). A weakness in the NA system is that it does not accommodate infection types in the intermediate range, as reactions are coded only as low or high.
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BGRI News
Globalrust.org gets a new look! The website of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative has been overhauled, with more information about wheat, the rusts, projects and people working on the wheat rusts, and partner institutions in wheat improvement. The new site has multimedia features, with tutorials about key aspects in wheat rust research, and it has wiki features, allowing visitors to add comments and content. The site is also equipped to facilitate small working groups. If you'd like a password-protected space for your wheat research collaborators to share data or collaborate on papers or proposals, contact bgri@cornell.edu to have your own free 'community space' set up.
The BGRI 2010 Technical Workshop will take place in St. Petersburg, Russia, from 30-31 May, in conjunction with the 8th International Wheat Conference, which will be held from 1-4 June 2010. Please note that these are new dates - different from those announced at the 2009 Cd. Obregon meeting. Visit the BGRI website for more information and to register for the conference(s): http://www.globalrust.org. We look forward to seeing you there next June!
 The much-anticipated arrival of new vehicles for three EIAR research centers has finally happened. Dr. Bedada Girma Buta, DRRW Project Coordinator for Ethiopia, is pictured with six silver pickup trucks that were purchased with funds allocated to the EIAR budgets for the Ambo Plant Protection Research Center, the Debre Zeit Research Center, the Kulumsa Research Center, and EIAR-HQ. Not pictured are an additional silver pickup truck and a Toyota Prado that were also purchased (the blue pickup belongs to the CIMMYT maize project). Recently, these vehicles have been placed into service at these research centers and are a welcome addition to the current (and well-used) vehicles that EIAR has had in service for many years. The budgets originally called for the purchase of seven vehicles, but the judicious choice of vehicles allowed for the acquisition of an additional vehicle. EIAR and the DRRW project wish to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Dennis Friesen and CIMMYT, as well as ILRI, in the import and handoff of these vehicles to a grateful EIAR staff.
This year, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), in collaboration with CIMMYT, tested more than 35,000 wheat and barley lines from 23 countries (Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, Paraguay, South Africa, Syria, Tunisia, USA, UK, Uzbekistan and Yemen), CIMMYT, ICARDA and IAEA INT 5/150 project. The testing was performed at the KARI Njoro station, which is a hotspot for stem rust (black rust) and an international critical site for stem rust screening, established under the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative. More than 50 researchers from around the world visited the Njoro facilities this year and inspected the germplasm to identify sources of resistance and/or to select elite germplasm resistant to stem rust race Ug99. Ug99 is mutating and migrating at fast pace and now exists in form of several variants and has already migrated to Iran. Despite severe drought conditions, the disease incidence in the nurseries was intense, and the screening data enriched researchers and breeders to rationalize and prioritize their breeding materials accordingly.
During the rust scoring season, the Njoro station hosted two international courses - 'Stem Rust Note Taking and Evaluation of Germplasm' (26 Sep - 7 Oct)' and Responding to Trans-boundary Threat of Black Stem Rust Ug99 (5 Oct - 9 Oct) - organized by CIMMYT, KARI and ICARDA in collaboration with Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project and IAEA INT5/150 project. More than sixty participants from over 30 countries attended these courses, which consisted of lectures from international experts, and hands-on practical activities and exercises in the fields related to stem rust screening, methodologies, techniques and principles. At the end of the training courses, the participants were confident enough to identify and screen stem rust and contribute actively to global monitoring and combating of the Ug99 spread. Pictures from the stem rust note-taking course can be found here.
The 4th Regional Yellow Rust Conference was held in Antalya, Turkey, 10-12 October. Recognizing the importance of yellow rust in CWANA, the horn of Africa, and recently its reoccurrence in North Africa, ICARDA has launched a periodic regional conference to enhance interaction among and between NARS scientists, CG Centers, universities and advanced research institutions. Participants have the opportunity to interact and share the latest information about their respective research programs.
This initiative is led by ICARDA and has been supported by CIMMYT, PBI-University of Sydney (Australia), DIAS (now Arhus University in Denmark), and key NARS programs in CAC countries, West Asia, North Africa, and the Nile valley region. This conference (4th Regional Yellow Rust Conference) follows the 3rd RYC held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 2006; the 2nd RYC held in Islamabad, Pakistan, in 2004; and the 1st RYC held at SPII, Karaj, Iran in 2001.
The conference was attended by 79 scientists from 23 countries, including Afghanistan, Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Georgia, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey Syria, USA, and Uzbekistan. A total of 57 papers were presented during oral (36 papers) and poster (21 papers) sessions. Conference information and participant contact info can be found here. Thanks to Dr. Amor Yahyaoui for providing this information.
The 4th Regional Yellow Rust Conference was held in Turkey (Antalya October 10-12, 2009) in conjunction with the 12th International Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildews Conference. ICARDA will host the 5th Regional Yellow Rust Conference in Aleppo, Syria, in 2012.
 Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) scientists are honored by African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) Program and accepted into 2-year fellowship program. An essential step in African development is strengthening the voice of Africa's knowledgeable women, both on the farm and in the laboratories. In 2007 the CGIAR Gender & Diversity Program launched African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD). AWARD offers two-year fellowships to fast track the careers of African women delivering pro-poor research and development. The program is funded generously by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. Three women from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute at Njoro were nominated for the AWARD program: Ruth Wanyera, Anne Gichangi, and Esther Kimani, who wrote up their experiences. For more information about the AWARD program, visit http://fellowsupdate.wordpress.com.
 Robert Park receives the Friendship Award of China. The Friendship Award of China is the supreme award that the Chinese government confers to foreign experts who work in China. Hosted annually before National Day by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, it is an award to thank and commend the foreign experts for their outstanding achievements and dedication to China's development and construction in the fields of economy, technology, education and culture as well as personnel cultivation. Winners of the year's award are invited to Beijing to attend the awarding ceremony on National Day (October 1st). Prof. Robert Park is the GRDC Chair of Cereal Rust Research at the Plant Breeding Institute, and the Director of the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program that includes nodes at the University of Adelaide, CSIRO Plant Industry, and the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Centre in Mexico (CIMMYT).
Recent news on wheat and wheat rusts
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27 November 2009 - ISAAA.org
India to Set up Borlaug Institute for South Asia>
India's Union Minister of Agriculture Sharad Pawar agreed to support the setting up of a Norman Borlaug Institute for South Asia in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) in India.
15 October 2009 - The Seattle Times
Norman Borlaug to Gates Foundation CEO: Don't give up the fight
Gates Foundation Chief Executive Jeff Raikes has deeply personal ties to agriculture. He grew up on a farm outside of Omaha, Nebraska, that had belonged to his family for generations.
11 September 2009 - redOrbit
Experts Call For Scaling Up Efforts To Combat Ug99, Other Wheat Rusts
Scientists meeting in Aleppo, Syria, propose to establish international repository laboratory of wheat rust pathogens as efforts intensify to repel existing invasions and anticipate new ones Wheat experts from 26 countries warn that rapidly-moving, wind-borne transboundary wheat diseases continue to threaten food...
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New publications
Upcoming events - see the Rust Events Calendar for all events
- Interregional workshop on "Contingency Planning for Rapid Variety Release, Seed Multiplication and Distribution of Wheat Rust Resistant Varieties," 7-9 December 2009, Antalya, Turkey
- National awareness and contingency planning workshop for wheat rusts in Turkey, 10-11 December 2009
- Joint Congress of the Hard Winter Wheat Workers and the US National Wheat Genomics Workshop, 7-10 March 2010
- Wheat Improvement and Pathology Hands-On Training Program, 15 February-14 May 2010, at CIMMYT El Batán and Cd. Obregón
- BGRI 2010 Technical Workshop, 30-31 May 2010 in St. Petersburg. Russia
- 8th International Wheat Conference, 1-4 June 2010 in St. Petersburg, Russia
Other News
The Global Initiative on Plant Breeding recently launched the Plant Breeding Forum listserv, an e-mail based forum for plant breeding and related fields. The purpose of PBForum-L is to create a means for plant breeders and those in related fields to interact easily on a regular and informal basis, with inquiry, discussion and debate. PBForum-L complements PBN-L, the Plant Breeding News, a monthly e-newsletter (http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/AGPC/doc/services/pbn.html) and the global forum feature of the GIPB website (http://km.fao.org/gipb/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=46&Itemid=210).
In order to participate you will need to subscribe:
1. Address an e-mail to: mailserv@mailserv.fao.org.
2. Leave the subject line blank.
3. In the message area, type: SUBSCRIBE PBForum-L
4. You can unsubscribe at any time. You will receive a confirmation message of your subscription, and details on how the listserv works.
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Editor's Notes
The BGRI Newsletter is an electronic forum for the exchange of scientific updates, opportunities, and ideas about wheat and the rusts. It is published on a quarterly basis.
The newsletter is edited by Jenny Nelson ("jmn99@cornell.edu). The newsletter is managed by the editor and an advisory group consisting of Ronnie Coffman (wrc2@cornell.edu), Gordon Cisar (glc56@cornell.edu), Peter Njau (njaupnn@yahoo.com), and Mahinur Akkaya (akkayams@metu.edu.tr). The editor will advise subscribers one month ahead of each edition to solicit contributions.
Subscribers are encouraged to take an active part in making the newsletter a useful communications tool. Contributions may be in such areas as: technical communications on wheat breeding and rust pathology issues; announcements of meetings, courses and electronic conferences; book announcements and reviews; web sites of special relevance to wheat and the rusts; announcements of funding opportunities; requests to other readers for information and collaboration; and feature articles or discussion issues brought by subscribers. Suggestions on format and content are always welcome by the editor, at BGRI@cornell.edu.
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