AUS – WA SCIENTISTS HELP CRACK BARLEY GENETIC CODE


27 April 2017. Source: Media Release, WA Department of Agriculture and Food

The development of new and improved barley varieties is set to be accelerated, after the complete barley genome was recently mapped by an international consortium, which included Western Australian scientists.

The Western Barley Genetics Alliance, a partnership between the Department of Agriculture and Food and Murdoch University, was a major contributor to the research, assisted by funds from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

Alliance Director, Murdoch University Professor Chengdao Li, said the WA-based group was among the elite group of international scientists who mapped two of the seven barley chromosomes…

We have developed the ‘gold standard’ of genetic maps, resulting in greater precision and more detailed data, which will provide plant breeders and researchers with confidence to manipulate genes to develop the next generation of barley varieties,” he said.