Rapid tracking of new Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici pathotypes using field pathogenomics

The project covers the development of transcriptome assemblies of Indian Pst pathotypes infecting wheat and the study of variations that occur naturally in farmer fields in North India. The present investigation is a first step in this region with a prime focus on characterizing prevalent reference Pst pathotypes as well as pathogen populations prevailing in farmer's fields with the mentioned objectives.1. To conduct in planta transcriptomic analysis and virulence profiling of the Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici infected field samples,2. To identify the differentially expressed host and pathogen genes,3. To develop and validate the race specific KASP and SSR markers.