Application of Focused Identification of Germplasm Strategy (FIGS) in Australian Environment

With the looming spectre of climate change, the projects aims to discover previously undiscovered genes and useful variations of known genes for resistance to serious pests and diseases. This can be possible thanks to the use of FIGS which quantify and determine relathionship between collection site and the presence of specific traits.

It start with identification of 5 target traits for bread and durum wheat in accordance with Australian grain industry needs. Develop, fine-tune, test and validate prediction algorithms for selected traits. Annually identified subsets of barley, durum and bread wheat for one of the five traits identified before. Then identify 5 traits for each of lentil, chick pea, faba bean and field peas according to a priority list of key of PBA breeders in Australia. Assemble relevant data for the selected traits and develop a prediction algorithm. Annually identified for one of the 5 traits identified before. Delivery to Australia of FIGS set material. Identify and develop a collaborative framework to create a user friendly software application.

The project will improve the efficiency and shorten the timeline associated with novel gene discovery for crops of importance to both the Australian grain industry and resource-poor farmers globally. It will do this by improving upon currently developed FIGS methodology and by identifying and delivering tailor made subsets of germplasm to pre-breeders and breeders who are looking for new sources of adaptive traits (biotic and abiotic). This multi-task process, will allow the discovery of previously undiscovered genes and useful variations of known genes for resistance to serious pests and diseases with improved higher yielding and better adapted varieties. The impact of this project will not only be realized in Australia but also globally as the approach becomes industry standard for the genebank community thereby improving the overall efficiency of genetic resource utilization, which is of increased significance in the context of global challenges posed by climate change to agro-ecosystems world wide.