Meet Katherine Jordan, Ph.D., a Research Geneticist, with the USDA-ARS, Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research in Manhattan, Kansas. Dr. Jordan is a newly funded PI with the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative. Her project, “Haplotype Informed Prediction of FHB Resistance in US Wheat Breeding Programs”, is in its first year and is funded under the Transformational Science category of the RFP. 

USWBSI: Briefly share some background about yourself and your research program.

Katherine Jordan: I am a classically trained quantitative geneticist that has transitioned from Drosophila behavior to wheat genomics. I studied genetics at North Carolina State University, then moved to plant pathology at Kansas State University where I began to work on wheat. I have always been interested in genetics and how various phenotypes or diseases are manifested through the combination of genetics and environmental conditions. Over my scientific career, the costs of sequencing and computation have drastically decreased, which allows for whole-genome or exome resequencing of populations that affords us the opportunity to associate genes and mutations with phenotypic traits and disease resistance and susceptibility. With these advances and constant sequence-data generation comes a need for more bioinformatics training, which is where my experience lies. Currently with the USDA, I am the bioinformatics specialist for the Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research Unit in Manhattan, where I use this knowledge to explore and identify important genes and QTL to be used for breeding targets to improve wheat germplasm for adaptation to biotic and abiotic stress. 

USWBSI: What novel techniques are being implemented in your research program?

Katherine Jordan: The wheat genome is very large, complex, and highly repetitive, which has hindered the progress of improving wheat at the rate of other agricultural crops. We have just adapted the Practical Haplotype Graph (PHG) tool, a promising new database storage and imputation technology to wheat, and found it is capable of handling wheat's complexity. This bioinformatical tool decreases the data footprint for storing genotype and sequence information and uses a custom-built database to accurately impute haplotypic structure in wheat accessions. Its breakthrough is that it takes very little sequence information and predicts genotypes across the entire genome with very high accuracy. This allows breeders to obtain valuable information and apply selection early in breeding programs to aid in selecting germplasm that carries specifically desired haplotypes. In this case, we will be using this bioinformatic imputation pipeline with genomic selection (GS) to identify breeding targets for fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance in wheat. We should be able to accurately select breeding lines carrying multiple FHB resistant haplotypes for selection to the next generation to build more resistant wheat cultivars. 

USWBSI: What excites you most about your research and current position?

Katherine Jordan: I am excited about the prospect of creating improved wheat germplasm that may carry resistance to FHB to combat the associated losses to this devastating disease. Essentially, this position grants me the opportunity to apply the knowledge I gained in training with model systems to applied systems that affect real world issues like global health. 

If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Katherine Jordan you can view her website and reach her via email.
 

Do you have a novel concept that could be applied to reducing the impact of Fusarium head blight of wheat and barley and are not currently funded by the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative? Submit your concept to the FY22 USWBSI RFP under the Transformational Science Category today! (Letters of Intent are due by July 1, 2021.)