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SUMMARY:CANCELLED: Striga\, the scourge of Africa: Understanding the molec
 ular basis of resistance in cereals to the parasitic witchweeds - Julie Sc
 holes (University of Sheffield)
DTSTART:20140206T130000Z
DTEND:20140206T140000Z
UID:TALK47379@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ian Henderson
DESCRIPTION:Rice\, maize and sorghum are staple foods for millions of peop
 le in sub-Saharan Africa yet yields of less than 1 tonne per hectare are c
 ommon. One of the most important biotic constraints to cereal production a
 nd yield improvement in this region are the parasitic witchweeds Striga he
 rmonthica and S. asiatica.  These parasites invade the roots of their host
 s causing severe stunting and yield losses that range from 40% to total cr
 op failure.  In this seminar I will give an overview of the approaches we 
 are taking to identify the molecular basis of susceptibility and resistanc
 e in rice to Striga\, with the aim of developing cultivars with durable re
 sistance to these devastating parasites. I will then describe in detail ho
 w we have used ‘mapping populations’ of rice and functional genomics t
 o fine map an important Striga-resistance Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL ) 
 and identify a small number of candidate resistance genes. 
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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