Abstract:
Wild wheat progenitors and relatives harbor rich natural genetic diversity, and identifying genes in these species provides a genetic basis to improve agronomic traits and stress resilience of bread wheat through breeding and genome engineering. Aegilops tauschii, the wild progenitor of the D genome of bread wheat, is an important species harboring variation for disease resistance, drought, salinity and cold tolerance, and agronomically-favorable traits. This PhD dissertation aims to characterize the natural genetic diversity in Ae. tauschii based on large-scale and high-quality genomic resources, and describes the application of these resources in investigating the genetic architecture controlling leaf trichome formation in this wild species using genome-wide association studies, haplotype analyses, allele mining analyses and comparative genomics. Determining the genetic control of trichome formation in wild relatives could enable breeders to transfer beneficial traits to domesticated wheat, for example improved protection against stress from intense radiation, heat, and cold.

Bio:
Andrea is a PhD candidate in prof. Brande Wulff's Lab since August of 2021. Her research focuses on the genetic control of trichome variation in wheat species using genomics, transcriptomics, and genome wide association studies. She has mainly studied the wild wheat progenitor Aegilops tauschii, and assembled a pan-genome for this species as a genomics resource for gene discovery of biotic and abiotic stress tolerance under the support of the Open Wild Wheat Consortium. Andrea’s research interests include genomic and transcriptomic analyses for the discovery and use of genetic variation, determining genotype-phenotype associations, and exploring evolutionary relationships.