Department of Plant Breeding
Research
Research interests in the JLU Giessen Department of Plant Breeding cover various aspects of quantitative and molecular genetics, genomics and breeding of oilseed rape, wheat, sorghum and barley. Currently the group comprises three senior scientists/group leaders, nine postdocs and 16 PhD students, assisted by numerous technicians, MSc and BSc students. Most of our projects are funded by grants from DFG, BMBF, BMEL/FNR, EU and GFPi along with additional private-public partnerships and scholarships.
The main research focus is on combining functional and structural genomics with field-based and controlled-environment evaluation of crop populations for analysis of a wide variety of complex quantitative traits. Special emphasis is placed on the use of next-generation DNA sequencing for SNP discovery, sequencing-based mapping, ultradeep global transcriptome analysis, population epigenomics and polyploid genome structure analysis. The group members are involved in numerous national and international research consortia with partners in Europe, Australia, Asia and North America.
Chair
Contact
Department of Plant Breeding, Justus Liebig University
IFZ Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition
Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392 Giessen, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 641 / 99 37421
Fax: +49 (0) 641 / 99 37429
Recent publication highlights
- Kang L, Qian L, Zheng M, Chen L, Chen H, Yang L, You L, Yang B, Yan M, Gu Y, Wang T, Schiessl SV, An H, Blischak P, Liu X, Lu H, Zhang D, Rao Y, Jia D, Zhou D, Xiao H, Wang Y, Xiong X, Mason AS, Pires JC, Snowdon RJ, Hua W, Liu Z (2021) Genomic insights into the origin, domestication and diversification of Brassica juncea. Nature Genet 53: 1392-1402, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-021-00922-y
- He Z, Ji R, Havlickova L, Wang L, Li Y, Lee HT, Song J, Koh C, Yang J, Zhang M, Parkin IAP, Wang X, Edwards D, King GJ, Zou J, Liu K, Snowdon RJ, Banga SS, Machackova M, Bancroft I (2021) Genome structural evolution in Brassica crops. Nature Plants 7: 757-765, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-021-00928-8
- Zanini S, Bayer P, Wells R, Snowdon R, Batley J, Varshney R, Nguyen H, Edwards D, Golicz A (2021) Pangenomics in crop improvement – from coding SVs to finding regulatory variants with pangenome graphs. Plant Genome 15; e20177, https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/tpg2.20177
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Ober ES, Alahmad S, Cockram J, Forestan C, Hickey LT, Kant J, Maccaferri M, Marr E, Milner M, Pinto F, Rambla C, Reynolds M, Salvi S, Sciara G, Snowdon RJ, Thomelin P, Tuberosa R, Uauy C, Voss-Fels KP Wallington E, Watt M (2021) Wheat root systems as a breeding target for climate resilience. Theor App Genet 134: 1645-1662, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-021-03819-w
- Gill RA, Scossa F, King GJ, Golicz A, Tong C, Snowdon RJ, Fernie AD, Liu S (2021) On the role of transposable elements in the regulation of gene expression and subgenomic interactions in crop genomes. Crit Rev Plant Sci, https://doi.org/10.1080/07352689.2021.1920731
- Vollrath P, Chawla HS, Schiessl SV, Gabur I, Lee HT, Snowdon RJ, Obermeier C (2021) A novel deletion in FLOWERING LOCUS T modulates flowering time in winter oilseed rape. Theor Appl Genet 134: 1217-1231, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-021-03768-4