Research Interest:  Molecular biology of host plant resistance and wheat-Hessian fly interaction.

Specific Projects:

1.      Breeding for Hessian fly resistance in collaboration with breeders across the nation. Over 5 thousand breeding lines with different Hessian fly resistance genes were screened in the Hessian fly green house. Elburn Parker is in charge of this project.

2.      Map and clone host resistance genes from wheat and wheat related species. A new resistance gene has been identified and mapped to the short arm of wheat chromosome 1A. Several wheat resistance genes are under mapping and cloning. Xuming Liu is in charge of this project.

3.      Clone and characterize genes coding for secreted proteins in the Hessian fly salivary glands. Determine if specific secreted protein genes are associated with avirulence/virulence phenotypes of different biotypes. Determine the role of specific secreted protein genes in the signal transduction pathways in wheat-Hessian fly interaction. Xiang Liu, Xuming Liu, and Ashoka Maddur are involved in this project.

4.      Molecular characterization of protease inhibitors and their roles in Hessian fly virulence. Ashoka Maddur is in charge of this project.

5.      Predicting durability of host resistance and Hessian fly avirulence. Elburn Parker and Xiang Liu are in charge of this project.

Collaborators:

Stephen Baenziger, Guihua Bai, Robert Bowden, Bikram Gill, Gina Brown-Guedira, John Fellers,  Allan Fritz, Scot Hulbert,  Yoon-Seong Park,  Sonny Ramaswamy,  Gerald Reeck, John Reese, Richard Shukle, Michael Smith,  Jeffrey Stuart, Gerald Wilde, Christie Williams