Scot H. Hulbert
Evolutionary Arms Race
The easiest and most efficient way to control serious losses to plant diseases is by planting disease resistant crop varieties. The development of such varieties is the ongoing work of plant breeders and cooperating pathologists. The biggest difficulty lies in the fact that many plant pathogenic microbes evolve very rapidly. Pathogen populations typically change to forms that are no longer controlled by the resistance; requiring breeders to then develop a variety with different genes for disease resistance. The process is essentially an evolutionary arms race, where breeders direct the evolution of crop varieties with new sources of resistance, and pathogens evolve to overcome these resistances. Pathogens, like cereal rusts, are particularly troublesome because they produce huge numbers of spores, increasing the likelihood that some will mutate to new forms. This makes breeding particularly challenging for crops like wheat that are grown on large acreages and thereby maintaining large pathogen populations. The resistance of some cultivars is more durable than others, remaining effective for many years in the field. Cultivars with durable resistance are apparently more difficult for pathogen populations to overcome.
Dr. Scot Hulbert is researching why some sources of resistance are more durable than others and looking for methods to identify durable resistance. Most resistance genes function by recognizing proteins made by the pathogen, and then initiating defense responses. His group has been supported by the USDA’s National Research Initiative and the National Science Foundation to study genes in wheat, corn and rice that have proven to be durable to see if they function by other mechanisms. They have also begun to characterize the proteins from rust fungi that are recognized by wheat resistance genes. Another approach they are examining is transfering resistance genes between distantly related cereals (e.g. maize to wheat) to control diseases of the recipient species.
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Contact Information
Scott Hulbert, Ph.D.
R. James Cook Endowed Chair for Cropping Systems Pathology
Crop and Soil Sciences
Washington State University
PO Box 646430
Johnson 307
Pullman, WA 99164-6430
Telephone: 509-335-3722
Fax: 509-335-8674
E-mail: scot_hulbert@wsu.edu
Scot H. Hulbert, Ph.D., Childhood experiences on a family farm in western Washington led Dr. Hulbert to pursue a B.S. degree at Washington State University. After deciding to pursue a career in research, he went to the University of California at Davis for a M.S. degree and a Ph.D. in genetics. He became interested in the evolution of plant-fungal interactions working with Richard Michelmore at Davis. He began working on diseases of cereal crops with Jeff Bennetzen as a post doc at Purdue in 1987. He joined the faculty in the Department of Plant Pathology at Kansas State University in 1989. He remained there for 17 years, serving as interim head of the plant pathology department from 2004-2006. In 2006, Dr. Hulbert accepted the R. J. Cook Endowed Chair for cropping systems pathology. In addition to research and teaching, he has contributed in a variety of public service roles and has been elected as a Fellow to the American Phytopathological Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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