Comparative genomics and trait analyses in the grasses
Date
27 Feb 2018, Tuesday
Time
| Location | Local Time | Time Zone |
| Canberra (Australia – Australian Capital Territory) | 12:30:00 pm | AEDT |
| Melbourne (Australia – Victoria) | 12:30:00 pm | AEDT |
| Brisbane (Australia – Queensland) | 11:30:00 am | AEST |
| Perth (Australia – Western Australia) | 9:30:00 am | AWST |
| Adelaide (Australia – South Australia) | 12:00:00 noon | ACDT |
Venues
CSIRO: Black Mountain – Discovery Theatre; Adelaide Waite – B101-FG-SmallWICWest; Brisbane QBP – Level 3 South telepresence room (3.323); Armidale – B55-FG-R00-Small; Perth Floreat – B1b Boardroom; Werribee (Melbourne) – Peacock Room; Irymple – (see Natalie Strickland)
Speaker
Professor Katrien M. Devos, University of Georgia U.S.
Synopsis
The overarching theme of my research is comparative genomics of grasses. Target species are switchgrass, millets, wheat and seashore paspalum. Under the umbrella of comparative genomics, we investigate the genetic basis of a range of traits of economic importance such as plant height, latitudinal adaptation, disease resistance and salt tolerance. Many of the species we work on have very few genomic resources, so resource development is an important component of my research. We also exploit the generated grass genetic and genomic data to answer basic questions on chromosome and genome evolution. The seminar will provide an overview of the research in my lab, with more in-depth coverage of two research projects. Unraveling the genetics of ecotype differentiation in switchgrass combines traditional QTL analysis with comparative whole-genome sequence analyses between upland and lowland switchgrass, and RNA-Seq analysis to identify the genes that define the differences in ecotype morphology and phenology. Isolation of the d2 dwarfing gene in pearl millet will take you through the isolation, structural and ongoing functional characterization of this important dwarfing gene.
Bio
Katrien Devos obtained her PhD in 1992 from the University of Ghent, Belgium. She did part of her PhD research at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK, and then remained at the John Innes Centre, first as a post-doc, then as a Project Leader heading up the Pearl Millet team. In 2002, she joined the University of Georgia with a joint appointment in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, and the Department of Plant Biology were she has been studying the structure and evolution of grass genomes. She was elected an AAAS Fellow in 2016. In recognition of the quality of her research, she received UGA’s Creative Research Medal in 2016, and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ D.W. Brooks Award for Excellence in Research in 2017. She is currently a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at CSIRO for a period of 6 months.