The main research topic of my group is the genetic of nonhost resistance to wheat stripe rust caused by the obligate fungal pathogen Puccinia striiformis f. sp tritici (Pst).
We focus on the identification and cloning of the molecular components conferring resistance to Pst in nonhost species such as Hordeum vulgare (barley) and Brachypodium distachyon to ultimately deliver them into wheat. We are using a combination of map-based cloning, association genetics and Next Generation Sequencing techniques.
The genetic architecture of colonization resistance in Brachypodium distachyon to non-adapted stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis) isolates. PLoS Genet. 2018 Sep 28;14(9):e1007637. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007637. eCollection 2018 Sep.
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An ancient integration in a plant NLR is maintained as a trans-species polymorphism. bioRxiv preprint Dec 25, 2017 doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/239541
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Discovery and characterization of two new stem rust resistance genes in Aegilops sharonensis. Theor Appl Genet. 2017 Mar 8. doi: 10.1007/s00122-017-2882-8.
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Natural variation in Brachypodium links vernalization and flowering time loci as major flowering determinants. Plant Physiol. 2016 Sep 20. pii: pp.00813.2016.
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Rapid cloning of disease-resistance genes in plants using mutagenesis and sequence capture. Nature Biotechnology (2016) doi:10.1038/nbt.3543
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The development of quick, robust, quantitative phenotypic assays for describing the host–nonhost landscape to stripe rust. Front. Plant Sci., 27 October 2015
Read moreCharacterisation and Analysis of the Aegilops sharonensis Transcriptome, a Wild Relative of Wheat in the Sitopsis Section
Read moreThe Tnt1 retrotransposon escapes silencing in tobacco, its natural host.
The frequent transcriptional readthrough of the tobacco Tnt1 retrotransposon and its possible implications for the control of resistance genes. J Mol Evol. 2009 Mar;68(3):269-78.
SDE5, the putative homologue of a human mRNA export factor, is required for transgene silencing and accumulation of trans-acting endogenous siRNA.Plant J. 2007 Apr;50(1):140-8.
2010 – present Research Assistant, The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, UK.
2006 – 2010 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomes (CRAG), Barcelona, Spain.
2003 – 2006 Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of East Anglia, UK.
2000 – 2003 Postdoctoral Research Associate, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.
1998 – 2000 Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.
1994 – 1997 PhD Student, University of Seville, Spain.
1992 – 1994 Industry Postgraduate Fellow, ERN Laboratories S.A. & University of Seville, Spain.
