VeGIN: The Vegetable Genetic Improvement Network A - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

VeGIN: The Vegetable Genetic Improvement Network A multidisciplinary crop improvement pipeline for a competitive UK vegetable industry.

UK Vegetable Industry • Essential part of healthy, nutritious diet • Consumed raw, cooked and partially processed • Deliver dietary components with unique health benefits ( vitamins, fibre, phytochemicals ) • Wide industry base – breeders, growers, processors, retailers

UK Vegetable Industry • UK Vegetable production valued at £1.2 billion in 2014 • Significant added value through to retail • UK production as a percentage of total supply ~ 55% and declining • Significant opportunities to increase production and exports https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/horticulture-statistics-2014

VeGIN Crops Brassicas Leafy Vegetables Carrot Onion Cauliflower Lettuce Parsnip Bulb onion Broccoli Rocket Spring onion Calabrese leeks Cabbage Sprouts A reservoir of diversity Kale Current and Old varieties Landraces Crop wild relatives

VeGIN Aims • To establish an effective network of researchers with industry, for knowledge transfer to promote market delivery of R&D • To develop the genetic resources and tools to accelerate breeding for improved, sustainable marketable yield in field vegetables – Pest and disease resistance – reduction of pesticides, varieties for IPM – Crop resilience - stress resistance for enhanced consumer quality, waste reduction, adaptation to climate change – Genotypes, genetic maps and molecular markers

Communication and Stakeholders + others

VeGIN Pipeline UNIVERSITIES INDUSTRY Research Grants e.g. HAPI Genetic Diversity Breeders VeGIN UKVGB PROCESSORS RETAILERS Growers Genetics / Trait Genomics Biology CONSUMERS University of Warwick | Harper Adams University

Exploiting Genetic Resources UK� Vegetable� Gene� Bank� collec ons� ~14,000� Accessions� � Genotyping� Diversity� Sets� ~� 100� with� representa ve� gene c� varia on� Screen� for� beneficial� traits� Database� Lines� with� poten ally� useful� phenotypes� Web� Site� Grant� Seed� Markers:� proposals� companies� QTL,� SNP� Trait� data� |� QTL� |� Environment� � correla ons�

Example 1: Fusarium basal rot of onion • Disease caused by the soilborne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cepae (FOC), a global problem for onion growers • Few control options: withdrawal of soil fumigants and lack of effective fungicides • New sources of resistance are required • Onion diversity set developed at Warwick using lines derived from the UK Vegetable Gene Bank • Onion seedling and bulb tests were carried out using inoculation with highly pathogenic FOC isolate

FOC resistance 90 Susceptible Resistant 80 Relative survival (%) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Susceptible line Resistant line Susceptible line Resistant line

BBSRC HAPI Project • Next generation sequencing being used to understand pathogenicity and resistance in Fusarium oxysporum on onion • Onion resistance – New sources of FOC resistance confirmed and associated markers being identified for breeding – New onion lines and populations being developed for genetic analysis and development of resistant cultivars • Fusarium pathogenicity – Pathogenicity genes identified which will enable FOC to be distinguished from other pathogenic F. oxysporum affecting different hosts and non- pathogenic isolates

Example 2: Currant-lettuce aphid – Nasonovia ribisnigri Producers of high value salad packs require high quality raw material free from blemishes and ‘foreign’ bodies including insects. Problem for growers: aphids prefer to feed at the centre of lettuce heads where they are difficult to control with foliar insecticides.

Screen of VeGIN lettuce DFFS Mean N. ribisnigri count for Nasonovia resistance 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 50 0 95 96 14 85 87 92 22 62 93 84 2 Resistant 1 71 38 37 54 60 8 57 9 61 64 40 5 32 51 16 10 24 68 70 15 42 17 81 59 36 77 73 43 Lettuce DFS line 56 7 35 27 34 63 21 29 58 44 3 86 28 25 12 4 13 26 75 74 88 11 90 91 31 89 23 33 67 30 69 18 78 79 49 82 19 39 41 47 48 50 83 45 76 52 80 46 6 53 72 94 66 20 55 65 Susceptible

Example 3: Durable broad spectrum resistance to Turnip mosaic virus VeGIN research resulted in the identification of resistance • to the important virus, Turnip yellows virus (TuYV). • Particularly prevalent in the UK and the rest of northern Europe and can cause up to 30% yield loss. These TuYV resistances are being evaluated further in projects funded by BBSRC, and a number of industry partners including Syngenta, Tozer, Limagrain, Sakata, Enza Zaden, Rijk Zwaan for exploitation in vegetable brassicas and oilseed rape.

Example 4: Lettuce Tipburn Assay • Screening the VeGIN lettuce Diversity Fixed Foundation Set (DFFS) for tipburn tolerance – genetic material for breeding • We have developed a hydroponic screen for tipburn to assess the diversity of symptom development within the 96 DFFS lines

Tipburn Symptoms across the VeGIN Lettuce DFFS Lines 6 5 Mean Tipburn Score 4 3 2 1 0 52 88 96 94 95 65 20 90 67 74 26 21 34 45 64 39 14 99 31 19 68 4 16 79 97 10 51 36 48 62 9 54 40 82 70 5 98 2 49 44 8 35 78 77 24 61 41 7 29 38 DFFS Line Number Saladin Iceberg VeGIN Saladin x Iceberg mapping population currently under assay.

Outputs / Added Value • Funding – current competitive grants 1. Exploiting sources of resistance to Turnip yellows virus for deployment in oilseed rape. John Walsh (BBSRC CIRC, 2012 -2016, £487 k) 1. Exploiting next generation sequencing technologies to understand pathogenicity and resistance in Fusarium oxysporum. John Clarkson (BBRSC HAPI, £812 k) 1. Developing genetics and genomics interface in mustard. Guy Barker, Eric Holub (BBSRC/DBT, 2014-2017, £1.2 m) 1. Developing integrated approaches for pest and disease control in horticultural field crops (IAPAD). John Walsh, Martin Williamson (BBSRC HAPI, £925 k) 1. A genetic approach to improving post-harvest quality. David Pink , Carol Wagstaff, Guy Barker (BBSRC HAPI, £1.024 m) 1. A systems approach to disease resistance against necrotrophic fungal pathogens. Katherine Denby, Carol Wagstaff, John Clarkson, Paul Hand (BBSRC HAPI, £882 k) Total ~ £5.3 M

Outputs / Added Value Examples of Training and Knowledge Transfer • Multiple regular presentations at Industry conferences and international Symposia • Several Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Elsoms Seeds Ltd • 9 PhD studentships using VeGIN resources since 2006 • Multiple requests for VeGIN seed resources • Dr Andrew Taylor, Warwick. HDC Fellowship – developing diagnostics for detection of different Fusarium oxysporum species • TSB grant ‘Digital Imaging for phenotyping root crops’ – with Elsoms • International Brassica C genome sequencing project in collaboration with NRC (Canada), AAFC (Canada), JCVI (USA), INRA (France)(Missouri University) University of Queensland (Australia)

VeGIN for the Future • Successful future Rural Economy – Improved crop varieties with markers, open access to phenotype and marker data – Innovation, competiveness, knowledge transfer – Interaction with Agri-Tech Centres • Maintaining food security – Diverse, resilient supply chains • Leading the world in R&D, innovation – Agri-Food and Food Innovation

The VeGIN Team Brian Thomas Dave Pink Guy Barker Paul Hand Graham Teakle Jim Monaghan Rosemary Collier Andrew Beacham John Clarkson Charlotte Allender Katherine Denby John Walsh Peter Glen Walley Giulia Cuccato Vicky Buchanan-Wollaston David Cooper