Profile

Education

• 2009 – Washington State University, Pullman, WA, Ph.D. Crop Sciences
• 2004 – Washington State University, Pullman, WA, M.S. Crop Sciences
• 1998 – Washington State University, Pullman, WA, B.S. Genetics and Cell Biology, minors in Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology
• 1994 – Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane, WA, A.A degree

Research

The focus of my breeding program as the Robert A. Nilan Endowed Chair in Barley Research and Education is the development of high-quality spring and winter malting, food and feed barley varieties that are widely adapted to diverse regions of Washington State. As part of these efforts, I founded and serve as the director of the WSU malt quality analysis lab to analyze material from my breeding program as well as to serve the craft malting, brewing and distilling industries with third party analysis. My basic research utilizes molecular genetics, genomics, and functional analysis tools to explore the genetic and functional mechanisms underlying biotic and abiotic stress resistance and malt quality genes in barley. The genes and signaling pathways my team is focusing on are important to production in the growing regions of Washington State and the greater inland northwest. The knowledge and molecular tools developed can be translated to the field through targeted breeding efforts aided by genetic marker-based and genomic selection strategies.

Publications

1. Upadhaya, A., S. Upadhaya, and R.S. Brueggeman. 2021. The wheat stem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici) population from Washington State contains the most virulent isolates reported on barley. Plant Disease DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-06-21-1195-RE.
2. Alhashel, A., R. Sharma Poudel, J. Fiedler, C. Carlson, J. Rasmussen, T. Baldwin, T. Friesen, R. Brueggeman, and S. Yang. 2021. Genetic mapping of host resistance to the Pyrenophora teres f. maculate isolate 13IM8.3. Genes Genomes Genetics/G3 DOI: 1093/g3journal/jkab341.
3. Deka, P., R. Brueggeman, and A. Bezbaruah. 2021. Sequestration of Zinc Nanoclusters in Root Vacuoles of Spinacia oleracea exposed to Nanoscale Zinc. Nanotechnology for Environmental Engineering (Accepted).
4. Clare, S.J., A. Celik Oguz, K. Effertz, R. Sharma Poudel, D. See, A. Karakaya, and R.S. Brueggeman. 2021. Genome wide association mapping of Pyrenophora teres f. maculata and Pyrenophora teres f. teres resistance loci utilizing natural Turkish wild and landrace barley populations. Genes Genomes Genetics/G3 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkab280.
5. Capo-chichi, L.J.A., S. Eldridge, A. Elakhdar, T. Kubo, R. Brueggeman, and A.O. Anyia. 2021. QTL Mapping and Phenotypic Variation for Seedling Vigour Traits in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Plants, DOI: 10.3390/plants10061149.
6. Tamang, P., J.K. Richards, S. Solanki, G. Ameen, R.  Sharma Poudel, P. Deka, K. Effertz, S. Clare, J. Hegstad, A. Bezbaruah, X. Li, R.D. Horsley, T.L. Friesen, R.S. Brueggeman. 2021. The barley HvWRKY6 transcription factor is required for resistance against Pyrenophora teres f. teres. Frontiers in Genetics DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2020.601500
7. Zhang, Z., K.L.D. Running, S. Seneviratne, A.R. Peters Haugrud, A. Szabo-Hever, G. Shi, R. Brueggeman, S.S. Xu, T.L. Friesen, and J.D. Faris. 2021. A protein kinase-major sperm protein gene hijacked by a necrotrophic fungal pathogen triggers disease susceptibility in wheat.  The Plant Journal DOI: 10.1111/tpj.15194
8. Jin, Z., S. Solanki, G. Ameen, T. Gross, S. Sharma Poudel, P. Borowicz,  R.S. Brueggeman, and P. Schwarz. 2021. Expansion of internal hyphal growth in Fusarium Head Blight infected grains contribute to the elevated mycotoxin production during the malting process. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions DOI: 10.1094/MPMI-01-21-0024-R.
9. Restrepo-Montoya, D., R.S. Brueggeman, P. McClean, and J.M. Osorno. 2020. Computational identification of receptor-like kinases “RLK” and receptor-like proteins “RLP” in legumes. BMC Genomics 21(1) DOI: 10.1186/s12864-020-6844-z.
10. Solanki, S., G. Ameen, J. Zhao, J. Flatten, P. Borowicz, and R.S. Brueggeman. 2020. Visualization of spatial gene expression in plants by modified RNAscope fluorescent in situ hybridization. Plant Methods 16(1) DOI: 10.1186/s13007-020-00614-4
11. Sanyal, D., S. Solanki, G. Ameen, R.S. Brueggeman, and A. Chatterjee. 2020. Understanding the expression dynamics of symbiont rhizobial nifH and nitrogen assimilatory NR and GS genes in dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genotypes at various growth stages. Legume Science DOI: 10.1002/leg3.26
12. Gyawali, S., A. Reda, R.P.S. Verma, R.S. Brueggeman, S. Rehman, L. Belqadi, M. Arbaoui, P. Tamang, and M. Singh. 2020. Seedling and adult stage resistance to net form of net blotch (NFNB) in spring barley and stability of adult stage resistance to NFNB in Morocco. Journal of Phytopathology 168(39) DOI: 1111/jph.12887.
13. Abraham, N., P. Chitampalam, B.D. Nelson, R. Sharma Poudel, K. Chittem, P. Borowiccz, R.S. Brueggeman, S. Jain, and J.M. LeBoldus. 2019. Microscopic, Biochemical, and Molecular Comparisons of Moderately Resistant and Susceptible Populus Genotypes Inoculated with Sphaerulina musiva. Phytopathology 109(12) DOI:10.1094/PHYTO-03-19-0105-R
14. Haque, M.E., M. Bloomquist, M.Z.R. Bhuiyan, T. Gross, P. Hakk, Y. Leng, Y. Liu, S. Zhong, R.S. Brueggeman, R. Sharma Poudel, and M. Kahn. 2019. First Report of Alternaria Leaf Spot Caused by Alternaria tenuissima on Sugar Beet (Beta vulgaris) in Minnesota, USA. Plant Disease DOI:10.1094/PDIS-03-19-0603-R
15. Aoun, M., J.A. Kolmer, M. Breiland, J. Richards, R.S. Brueggeman, L.J. Szabo, and M. Acevedo. 2019. Genotyping-by-Sequencing for the Study of Genetic Diversity in Puccinia triticina. Plant Disease 104(3) DOI:10.1094/PDIS-09-19-1890-RE
16. Wyatt, N., J. Richards, R. Brueggeman, and T. Friesen. 2019. A Comparative Genomic Analysis of the Barley Pathogen Pyrenophora teres f. teres Identifies Subtelomeric Regions as Drivers of Virulence. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 33(2) DOI:10.1094/MPMI-05-19-0128-R
17. Clare, S., N. Wyatt, N., R.S. Brueggeman, and T. Friesen. 2019. Research advances in the Pyrenophora teres–barley interaction. Molecular Plant Pathology 21(2) DOI:10.1111/mpp.12896
18. Sharma Poudel, R., J. Richards, S. Shestha, S. Solanki, and R.S. Brueggeman. 2019. Transcriptome-wide association study identifies putative elicitors/suppressor of Puccinia graminis sp. tritici that modulate barley rpg4-mediated stem rust resistance. BMC Genomics 20(1) doi: 10.1186/s12864-019-6368-7.