MSI Principal Investigators are among researchers from the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) who are studying ancient wild grains. These researchers hope that some of the grains will have resistance to diseases that affect modern agriculture; they could then be cross-bred with crops to provide them with that resistance. An article about this work appeared recently in the CFANS publication Solutions.
The article features MSI PIs Brian Steffenson (Plant Pathology) and Jim Anderson (Agronomy and Plant Genetics), who are members of a worldwide group called the Borlaug Global Rust initiative. This group is looking for ways to combat a deadly rust variety called Ug99, which is extremely virulent. Both Professors Steffenson and Anderson use MSI resources for their genomics and genetics research into wheat.