Robbie Waugh
Current research interests
- We aim to develop and exploit genomics and informatics technologies and resources, in conjunction with traditional skills in genetics and plant breeding, to identify genes underlying both simple and complex traits.
- We are particularly interested in exploiting natural genetic variation via the development and application of appropriate technologies and applying them to appropriate genetic materials. In particular, we are exploring the potential of Association Genetics in barley using highly parallel SNP genotyping in an attempt to identify genes / loci in elite barley germplasm that control traits manuipulated by UK breeders.
- We are conducting a programme of research to genetically characterise the majority of the morphological and developmental variation that has been described in barley by mapping c. 1000 well characterised mutants. This forward genetics approach is complemented by a well established reverse genetics resource (Barley Dis-TILLING population).
- We are investigating the genetic complexity of the barley transcriptome by expression QTL mapping in in a reference barley population and exploring whether patterns of gene expression can be used as a surrogate to dissect complex traits. Our current focus is on networks of genes that are differentially expressed in this population in response to pathogen infection.
- We are centrally involved in barley structural genomics through extensive BAC end sequencing and linking BAC contigs to the barley genetic map.
Bibliography
- The Potato Genome Sequencing Consortium. 2011. Genome sequence and analysis of the tuber crop potato. Nature 475, 189-195.
- Russell, J., Dawson, I.K., Flavell, A.J., Steffenson, B., Weltzien, E., Booth, A., Ceccarelli, S., Grando, S., and Waugh, R. 2011. Genome- and chromosome-level evaluation of SNP diversity in geographically-matched samples of landraces and wild barleys from the Fertile Crescent: lessons for evolution and domestication. New Phytologist (in press).
- Mayer, K.F., Martis, M., Hedley, P.E., Simková, H., Liu, H., Morris, J.A., Steuernagel, B., Taudien, S., Roessner, S., Gundlach, H., Kubaláková, M., Suchánková, P., Murat, F., Felder, M., Nussbaumer, T., Graner, A., Salse, J., Endo, T., Sakai, H., Tanaka, T., Itoh, T., Sato, K., Platzer, M., Matsumoto, T., Scholz, U., Dolezel, J., Waugh, R., Stein, N. 2011. Unlocking the barley genome by chromosomal and comparative genomics. Plant Cell 23(4), 1249-63.
- Chen, X.W., Hedley, P.E., Morris, J., Liu, H., Niks, R.E., Waugh, R. 2011. Combining genetical genomics and bulked segregant analysis-based differential expression: an approach to gene localization. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 122(7), 1375-1383.
- Ramsay, L., Comadran, J., Druka, A., Marshall, D.F., Thomas, W.T.B., Macaulay, M., MacKenzie, K., Simpson, C.G., Fuller, J., Hayes, P.M., Lundqvist, U., Franckowiak, J.D., Close, T.J., Muehlbauer, G. and Waugh, R. 2011. INTERMEDIUM-C, a modifier of lateral spikelet fertility in barley, is an ortholog of the maize domestication gene TEOSINTE BRANCHED 1. Nature Genetics 43, 169-U125.
- 6. Druka, A., Franckowiak, J., Lundqvist, U., Bonar, N., Alexander, J., Houston, K., Radovic, S., Shahinnia, F., Vendramin, V., Morgante, M., Stein, N., Waugh, R. 2011. Genetic dissection of barley morphology and development. Plant Physiology 155, 617-627.
- Comadran, J., Ramsay, L., MacKenzie, K., Hayes, P., Close, T.J., Muehlbauer, G., Stein, N., Waugh, R. 2010. Patterns of Polymorphism and Linkage Disequilibrium in Cultivated Barley. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 122, 523-531.
- Cockram, J., White, J., Zuluaga, D.L., Smith, D., Comadran, J., Macaulay, M., Luo, Z.W., Kearsey, M.J., Werner, P., Harrap, D., Tapsell, C., Liu, H., Hedley, P.E., Stein, N., Schulte, D., Steuernagel, B., Marshall, D.F., Thomas, W.T.B., Ramsay, L., Mackay, I., Balding, D.J., Waugh, R., O'Sullivan, D.M. AGOUEB Consortium. 2010. Genome-wide association mapping of morphological traits to candidate gene resolution in the un-sequenced barley genome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, 21611-21616.
- Chen, X.W., Niks, R.E., Hedley, P.E., Morris, J., Druka, A., Marcel, T.C., Vels, A., Waugh, R. 2010. Differential gene expression in nearly isogenic lines with QTL for partial resistance to Puccinia hordei in barley. BMC Genomics 11, 629.
- Chen, X.W., Hackett, C.A., Niks, R.E., Hedley, P.E., Booth, C., Druka, A., Marcel, T.C., Vels, A., Bayer, M., Milne, I., Morris, J., Ramsay, L., Marshall, D.F., Cardle, L. and Waugh, R. 2010. An eQTL analysis of partial resistance to Puccinia hordei in barley. PLoS One 5, e8598.
- Druka, A., Potokina, E., Luo, Z.W., Jiang, N., Chen, X.W., Kearsey, M.J. and Waugh, R. 2010. Expression quantitative trait loci analysis in plants. Plant Biotechnology Journal 8, 10-27.
- Moragues, M., Comadran, J., Waugh, R., Milne, I., Baum, M., Flavell, A.J. and Russell, J.R. 2010. Effects of ascertainment bias and marker number on estimations of barley diversity from high throughput SNP genotype data. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 120, 1525-1534.
- Rustenholz, C., Hedley, P.E., Morris, J., Choulet, F., Feuillet, C., Waugh, R. and Paux, E. 2010. Specific patterns of gene space organisation revealed in wheat by using the combination of barley and wheat genomic resources. BMC Genomics 11, 714.
- Close, T.J., Bhat, P.R., Lonardi, S., Wu, Y., Rostoks, N., Ramsay, L., Druka, A., Stein, N., Svensson, J.T., Wanamaker, S., Bozdag, S., Roose, M.L., Moscou, M.J., Varshney, R., Chao, S., Szücs, P., Sato, K., Hayes, P.M., Matthews, D.E., Marshall, D.F., Muehlbauer, G.J., Graner, A., deYoung, J., Madishetty, K., Fenton, R.D., Condamine, P. and Waugh, R. 2009. Development and implementation of high-throughput SNP genotyping in barley. BMC Genomics 10, 582.
- Salse, J., Abrouk, M., Bolot, S., Guilhot, N., Courcelle, E., Faraut, T., Waugh, R., Close, T.J., Messing, J. and Feuillet, C. 2009. Reconstruction of monocotyledonous proto-chromosomes reveals faster evolution in plants than in animals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 106, 14908-14913.
- Schreiber, A.W.J., Sutton, T., Caldo, R.A., Kalashyan, E., Lovell, B., Mayo, G., Muehlbauer, G., Druka, A., Waugh, R., Wise, R.P., Langridge, P. and Baumann, U. 2009. Comparative transcriptomics in the Triticeae. BMC Genomics 10, 285.
- Schulte, D., Close, T.J., Graner, A., Langridge, P., Matsumoto, T., Muehlbauer, G.J., Sato, K., Schulman, A.H., Waugh, R., Wise, R.P. and Stein, N. 2009. International Barley Sequencing Consortium - at the threshold of efficient access to the barley genome. Plant Physiology 149, 142-147.
- Thiel, T., Graner, A., Waugh, R., Grosse, I., Close, T.J. and Stein, N. 2009. Evidence and evolutionary analysis of ancient whole-genome duplication in barley predating the divergence from rice. BMC Evolutionary Biology 9, 209.
- Wang, M.H., Hu, X.H., Li, G., Leach, L.J., Potokina, E., Druka, A., Waugh, R., Kearsey, M.J. and Luo, Z.W. 2009. Robust detection and genotyping of single feature polymorphisms from gene expression data. PLoS Computational Biology 5, e1000317.
- Waugh, R., Jannink, J.L., Muehlbauer, G.J. and Ramsay, L. 2009. The emergence of whole genome association scans in barley. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 12, 218-222.
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