Department of Agriculture and Food,Baron-Hay Court,South Perth,Western Australia, 6151,Australia
Mini-biography
Dr Bevan Buirchell is a graduate of the University of Western Australia obtaining his PhD in Biochemistry in 1982. After pursuing research in the fields of medical biochemistry and molecular biology, he diversified into agricultural science. In 1988 he joined the Department of Agriculture as a Research Officer working in the Lupin crop development programme. Dr Buirchell was successful in domesticating the rough-seed lupins,
L. atlanticus and
L. pilosus, through mutation breeding and interspecific rossing. Breeding programs for yellow lupins (
L. luteus) and
L. albus were also commenced. In 1999 he took up the position of Senior Lupin Breeder at the Department with responsibility for breeding narrow-leafed lupin (
L. angustifolius) and overall management of the Lupin Improvement Program. Since 2000 he has been successful in implementing a number of molecular markers in the breeding programme especially markers for disease resistances controlled by major genes. Dr Buirchell has travelled extensively in the lupin world having collected lupins in their wild habitats in Morocco, Canary Islands and Egypt as well as collaborating with many breeding programs throughout Europe.
Developing molecular markers linked to major genes for application in a lupin breeding program Bevan Buirchell, Jeff Boersma and Hua'an Yang
Department of Agriculture and Food, 3 Baron-Hay Court, South Perth 6151 Western Australia, Australia
bbuirchell@agric.wa.gov.au Lupin (
Lupinus angustifolius L) is a major legume crop in Western Australia that adds many benefits to the farming system as well as being a cash crop. Western Australia is the largest exporter of lupins in the world, sending grain to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The lupin industry funds a large breeding program focused on the breeding of superior varieties with higher yield, improved resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses while maintaining quality requirements of the market. Integration of new technology to assist the program is a vital part of the process. The lupin breeding program has developed several molecular markers for major genes controlling anthracnose resistance, phomopsis resistance, softseedness, early flowering, non-shattering pods, rust resistance and herbicide (metribuzin) tolerance. However, only the first three traits are currently routinely implemented in the breeding program with over 20,000 individual plants screened each year. This paper will describe the steps we have taken to produce markers and some of the modifications we have made to produce markers that can be implemented into the breeding program. The key steps include parental choice for producing marker populations, accurate phenotyping, choice of DNA fingerprinting technique, validation across a range of lines, converting candidate markers into breeder-friendly format, and implementation in the breeding program.
