Dr. James Anderson is a wheat breeder/geneticist in the Department of Agronomy & Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota. His role in the T-CAP project will be to co-advise two Ph.D. students, two undergraduate students, and provide wheat lines for drought tolerance screening. The Ph.D. students will work with USDA-ARS scientists Dr. James Kolmer or Dr. Matt Rouse on leaf rust or stem rust of wheat, respectively. The students will participate in screening germplasm from the National Small Grains Collection for resistance to these rust pathogens, followed by the development of mapping populations to identify new genes for resistance. New genes are necessary to develop varieties resistant to these constantly evolving pathogens and increase the profitability and sustainability of wheat production. New genes could be deployed in varieties within about seven years. Drought is a yield limiting condition in many wheat growing areas. The identification of lines with drought tolerance and understanding the genetic causes will help wheat breeders to more efficiently select for greater drought tolerance in the future.
For more information see
http://agronomy.cfans.umn.edu/People/FacultyDirectory/AndersonJames/
Jim Anderson
