Dr Rebecca Ford
Position: |
Senior Lecturer in Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Pathology |
Address: |
LFR, University of Melbourne, Royal Pde, Parkville, 3010 |
Phone: |
+61-3-8344-9753 |
Fax: |
+61-3-8344-5037 |
Email: |
rebeccaf@unimelb.edu.au |
Teaching:
Industry Project 202301/303 (3rd year; Parkville Coordinator), Plant Pathology 208307 (3 rd year), Biotechnology for Land and Food 208247 (2 nd year; Coordinator) and some lectures in Breeding, Genetics and Crop Improvement subjects 208302/402
Research:
- Structural and functional studies of novel fungal resistance and abiotic stress tolerance genes in pulse and Brassica species.
- Isolation and manipulation of genes involved in unique biochemical pathways, to develop novel genotypes with improved quality and disease resistance characteristics.
- Molecular genotyping using new and novel molecular marker techniques for DNA fingerprinting for crop export quality assurance and diagnostics of pulse fungal pathogens.
Other professional interests:
- Cofounder and leader of the BioMarka research group: http://www.landfood.unimelb.edu.au/research/biomarka
- Senior Editor for the Australasian Plant Pathology journal
- Peer reviewer of manuscripts for: Phytopathology, Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Mycological Research, Euphytica , Mycopathologia, Fungal Diversity, Plant Function , the Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, the New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science and the Thai Journal of Agricultural Science.
- Member of scientific associations: Pisum Genetics Association, Pisum microsatellite consortium, International chickpea mapping consortium, Australian Society of Plant Scientists and Australasian Plant Pathology Society
Large current projects and consultancies:
- Development of virus resistant carrot and celery using hp-loop gene silencing; Horticulture Australia Ltd and the Department of Primary Industries.
- Epidemiology and control of Botrytis grey mould in lentil; Grain Research and Development Corporation and the Department of Primary Industries.
- Seed quality and disease resistance trait mapping in lentil; Australian Research Council Linkage and the Department of Primary Industries.
- Pyramiding ascochyta blight (A. rabiei) resistance in chickpea; Australian Research Council Linkage and Department of the Primary Industries.
- Increased productivity of cool season pulses in rain-fed agricultural systems of China and Australia; Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and the Department of Primary Industries.
- Characterisation and selection of phytocompound and physical seed quality characters of chickpea; Australian Research Council Linkage and the Department of Primary Industries.
- Genomic synteny in legumes; Application to crop breeding. Australian Research Council Linkage, Murdoch University, Agriculture Western Australia and Agriculture New South Wales.
- DNA fingerprinting for The Lentil Company, the Victorian Potato Seed Authority, Smith's Snackfoods and the Australian Oilseeds Federation.
- Molecular pathogen diagnostics for the Department of Primary Industries.
Publications since 2003:
- Redden, R.J., Leonforte, T., Ford, R., Croser, J., and Slattery, J. (2005). Pea (Pisum sativum L.). In: Genetic Resources, Chromosome Engineering, and Crop Improvement Series II, Volume I: Grain Legumes. Eds R. Singh and P. Jauhar. Taylor and Francis Books Inc. (USA). 1: 49-83.
- Photita, W., Taylor, P.W.J. Ford, R., Lumyong, P., McKenzie, E.H.C., Hyde, K., and Lumyong, S. (2005). Morphological and molecular characterisation of Colletotrichum species from herbaceous plants in Thailand. Fungal Diversity 18: 117-133.
- Nguyen T.T., Taylor P.W.J., Redden R.J. and Ford R. (2005). Resistance to Ascochyta rabiei in wild Cicer germplasm. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 45: 1291-1296.
- Skiba B., Ford, R. and Pang, E.C.K. (2004). Genetics of resistance to Mycosphaerella pinodes in Lathyrus sativus. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 55: 953-960.
- Ford, R., Banniza, S., Photitia, W., and Taylor, P.W.J. (2004). Morphological and molecular discrimination of Colletotrichum truncatum causing anthracnose on lentil in Canada. Australasian Plant Pathology 33(4) 559–569.
- Skiba B., Ford, R. and Pang, E.C.K. (2004). Construction of a linkage map based on a Lathyrus sativus backcross population and preliminary investigation of QTLs associated with resistance to ascochyta blight . Theoretical and Applied Genetics 109: 1726 – 1735.
- Nguyen, T.T., Redden, R.J., Taylor, P.W.J. and Ford, R. (2004). Genetic diversity estimates in Cicer using AFLP analysis. Plant Breeding 123: 173-179.
- Phan, T.T.H., Ford, R., Taylor, P.W.J. (2003). Population structure of Ascochyta rabiei in Australia based on STMS fingerprints. Fungal Diversity 13: 111-129.
- Flandez-Galvez , H., Ford, R., Pang, E. C. K., and Taylor P.W.J. (2003). An intraspecific linkage map of the chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genome based on sequence tagged microsatellite site and resistance gene analog markers. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 106: 1447-1456.
- Rubeena., Taylor P.W.J., and Ford, R. (2003). Molecular mapping the lentil (Lensculinaris ssp. culinaris) genome. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 107: 910-916.
- Flandez-Galvez, H., Ford, R. and Taylor, P.W.J. (2003). Mapping QTLs governing resistance to ascochyta blight in chickpea. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 107: 1257 – 1265.
- Phan, T.T.H., Ford, R., Taylor, P.W.J. (2003). Mapping the mating type locus of Ascochyta rabiei, the causal agent of ascochyta blight of chickpea. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology 4(5): 373-381.
- Skiba B., Ford, R. and Pang, E.C.K. (2003). Amplification and detection of polymorphic STSs in Lathyrus sativus. Plant Molecular Biology Reporter (Genetic Resources) 21(4): 391-404.
Links:
Potential Honours projects:
Several honours projects are available within the Biomarka group, for students to work closely with Industry Partners in the Agricultural and Horticultural areas. Below are examples of potential projects, others are available on discussion with Dr Ford.
- Development of a DNA fingerprint database for the Australian potato industry
The Australian potato industry relies on the clonal (tissue culture) propagation of high-health nuclear stock plants. Therefore, maintenance of genetic integrity of the clonal stocks is of primary importance. A fast and accurate method to validity the integrity of the stocks is to use DNA fingerprints (profiles). Such profiles should be affordable, highly discriminatory, highly reproducible, and quick to apply and require minimal amounts of plant tissue.
STMS (Sequence tagged microsatellite site) markers will be developed and applied for this purpose. These are DNA fingerprints produced using primers designed to the flanking regions of microsatellite or short sequence repeat (SSR) regions. Microsatellite regions consist of repetitive head-to-tail tandem arrays of 1-5 nucleotide base units that are dispersed throughout all eukaryotic genomes. Polymerase chain reaction with the flanking primers produces often highly polymorphic (multiple allelic) single locus markers among lines, which may be transferred easily among laboratories. The unambiguous amplification profile, ability to assign allele and transferability provide STMS markers clear advantages over the more randomly generated and complex profiles of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. The development of a database, based on STMS markers, will become a much used tool for the Australian potato industry. This project will involve close collaboration with researchers at DPI, Knoxfield and within the Victorian Seed Potato Authority (VicSPA). - Does the beta 1,3 glucanase gene aid in the defence of pulse crops against ascochyta blight fungal pathogens?
Beta-1,3-glucanase is a specific pathogenesis related (PR) protein that has antifungal activity. Therefore, the gene may potentially be used to engineer plants to contain higher levels of naturally induced fungal resistance via transgenesis. So far, beta 1, 3-glucanase has been cloned and characterised from pea in response to Ascochyta pisi, in lathyrus in response to Mycosphaerella pinodes, in chickpea in response to Ascochyta rabiei and in lentil in response to Ascochyta lentis. This project is aimed at determining the relatedness among the beta1,3 glucanse genes from the different pulse crops, isolating the full length lentil and chickpea beta 1,3 glucanse gene sequences and using array technology to assess the functionality of the genes in response to ascochyta inoculation. This information will help to determine if the beta 1,3 glucanse gene is a major resistance gene preventing/retarding infection of the fungal pathogen in resistant accessions.