When: Thu, 3 Oct 2024 09:00 – 10:30 BST
The International Barley Hub is pleased to announce the next in the 2024 series of seminars: ‘Genetic basis of the awn development in barley’ presented by Shun Sakuma (Associate Professor, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University)
Speakers bio:
Shun Sakuma (Associate Professor, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University)
Mar. 2013: Ph.D. Molecular genetics, Chiba University, Matsudo, Japan
Apr. 2013 – May 2013: Postdoctoral fellow – National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS), Tsukuba, Japan
Jun. 2013 – Jan. 2016: Assistant Professor – Kihara Institute for Biological Research, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan
Apr. 2016 – Mar. 2018: JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research Abroad – Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany
Feb. 2016 – Mar. 2023: Assistant Professor – Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University
Apr. 2023 – Present: Associate Professor -Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University
Summary:
Grass inflorescences produce many flowers (florets) which are directly connected to grain number. Grain number and weight mainly affect final grain yield; thus, understanding inflorescence shape is crucially important for cereal crop breeding. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) inflorescence called “spike” is divided into two-rowed and six-rowed spikes based on the grain setting in the lateral spikelets. Interestingly, six-rowed spike cultivars distributed in East Asia have sizeable genetic diversity in awn length, classified as long awn, short awn, and awnless. An awnless locus, Lks1, has been reported to shorten the awn development, but the molecular mechanism remains elusive. In this talk, I will discuss the genetic basis of awn development.
