Visiting Scientist Seminar – Prof Song Weining

Professor Song Weining

State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology in Arid Areas, Northwest A&F University, China

Going Wild for Cereals

Time: 1:00PM, Friday 17th March

Location: Plant Genomics Centre, Meeting Room 126/127

Abstract

Plant and animal domestication provide the foundation for human civilization. Based on archaeological evidence, wild wheat and wild barley were domestication in the Levant, West Asia, around 10,000 years ago. It is the Natufian people who first cultivated and eventually domesticated wheat and barley, in addition to domesticating wolves into dogs.

Due to the combination of its geographical position, diverse geographical environments as well as diverse climatic environments, the Levant is a natural treasure of rich biotic and genetic resources of wild wheat and wild barley. They are widely distributed in this region and they have built up in this area a wealth of genetic diversity against pathogens, pests and environmental stresses throughout their evolutionary history. Wild wheat and to a larger extent, wild barley, can be still found with massive stands in nature in the Levant, with their centers of diversity in the upper Jordan Valley. A critically important feature is that they are the progenitors of the cultivars and could be used in the crop improvement directly. For hexaploid wheat or bread wheat, it is considered to be derived from hybridization between cultivated emmer/durum wheat and goat grass, probably in the Caucasus region, modern day Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and northwestern Iran, around 7000-8000 years ago.

With the genomic era finally arrives for wheat and barley, their wild progenitors can play a key role from practical breeding to genomic exploration. Excellent examples have been provided in other crop species. Our imagination for innovative investigation is way less limited these days.

About the speaker

• Professor in plant genomics, College of Agronomy
• B.Ag.Sc. Hunan Agricultural University, 1982
• M.Ag.Sc. University of Adelaide, 1987
• Ph.D. University of Adelaide, 1994.

2006-present: Professor in plant genomics, College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, China; focusing on plant genomics and crop improvement.

2002-2006: Senior scientist, Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel; working on the cloning and characterization of drought tolerant genes derived from wild barley and wheat from middleeast, the transformation and expression of drought tolerant genes from wild barley in Arabadopsis, as well as identification and cloning of salt tolerant genes in Fungus from the dead sea.

1997-2002: Head of molecular biology lab, Leslie Research Centre, Queensland State Government, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia. Working on the molecular genetics of cereal crops, including molecular marker analysis, gene cloning and function characterization.

1996-1997: Centre for Conservation Genetics, University of Southern Cross, Lismore, NSW, Australia.

1992-1996: Queensland Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, QLD, Australia.

Professor Song has given a number of invited lectures including “Cereal Genome Analysis: From Molecular Biology to Agriculture” in Department of Crop and Soil Science, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington State, USA; and “Advances in Genomics” in Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, Hunan, China

Professor Song has published 18 papers in international journals and 22 papers in national and international conference on molecular biology and crop improvements. Most of his research focuses on genome analysis and the application of molecular biology to crop improvements.

Professor Song Weining, who completed his PhD at Waite in 1994, will visit the Waite Campus on Thursday 16th and Friday 17th March. If you would like to meet with him please contact Lisa Incoll, lisa.incoll@adelaide.edu.au.