Genomic resources for healthy ash trees
Finding genes in ash trees to overcome ash dieback and the emerald ash borer.
Genomic resourcesPlant Health and Adaptation
We analyse the DNA of plants to understand how they resist pests and pathogens.
Team lead: Professor Richard Buggs
Globalisation has caused unintentional but rapid spread of insects, bacteria and fungi around the world. Some of these are causing disastrous epidemics in native plant populations.
The Plant Health and Adaptation team finds long-term solutions to these pests and pathogens by discovering natural variants of genes that enable plants to overcome them.
We use methods developed in human genomic medicine and evolutionary biology. We have found ash tree genes associated with resistance to ash dieback and the emerald ash borer. These can allow us to predict natural responses to these threats and breed more resistant trees.
We also analyse the genomes of pathogenic fungi, to understand how they attack plants.
Team members
Senior Research Leader
Prof. Richard Buggs
Research Leaders
Dr Laura Kelly
Dr James Borrell
Post-Doctoral Researchers
Daniel Wood
Mohammed Vatanparast
Mike Charters
Romulo Carleial
Guillermo Friis
Harriet Hunt
Adam Devenish
Dario Galanti
PhD students
Louise Gathercole
Elvira Hernández Gutiérrez
Gabriele Nocchi
Will Plumb
Research assistants
Connor Tyler
Joe Langley
Sophie Jago
Projects
Landscape scale genomic-environment data to enhance the food security of Ethiopian agri-systems
Genetic and species diversity of Ethiopian agri-systems could hold the key to improving food security.
Ethiopian agri-systems
Genomics of British oak trees
Sequencing the genomes of 2,000 British oak trees to better understand tree health
Genomics of British oak trees