
Ryan Whitford
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology
Ryan is a plant molecular biologist who's research interests are in reproductive biology and the underlying molecular mechanisms behind plant responses to abiotic stress. He has previously worked on projects ranging from meiosis to extracellular peptide-based signalling in Arabidopsis and cereals. Ryan completed his PhD at the Co-operative Research Centre for Molecular Plant Breeding at the University of Adelaide, after which he worked as a Molecular Biologist for Bayer Cropscience GmbH (Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany) before a postdoctoral period within the Flemish Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (Ghent University, Belgium). He was research leader for the hybrid wheat and genome editing programs at the Australian Centre of Plant Functional Genomics and the University of Adelaide (Adelaide, South Australia). Currently he works closely with industry to solve pressing problems related to hybrid wheat seed production.
The FAO predicts that major improvements in wheat yields will be critical to ensuring global food security. Over the last decades, wheat yield improvements from conventional crop breeding has tapered off. This stands in contrast to the situation in rice and maize where yield improvements have continued unabated. Several reasons have been proposed for this difference between maize and wheat:
- increased private sector investment in maize research
- early adoption and implementation of the latest genetic technologies
- increased opportunities provided by hybrid breeding.
Hybrid wheats hold the potential to increase yields and will open a range of new breeding opportunities. Although capturing heterosis in wheat has historically been intractable, a recent experimental survey of European winter wheat combining ability indicates yield gains of 10-15% can be achieved. Commercial exploitation of this heterotic yield gain is likely to be difficult due to wheat’s strong inbreeding nature, a factor primarily governed by floral development and architecture, and the lack of a cost-effective and practicable fertility control system (Whitford et al., 2013). The aim of our research is to reduce hybrid seed production costs by
- Developing a robust male sterility and restoration systems, and
- Improving wheat’s floral characteristics for out-crossing
Project Title: Exploring female receptivity traits to improve wheat cross-pollination
This project aims to get a deep understanding of stigma receptivity to air-born pollen by exploiting genetic resources and next generation sequencing technologies using the latest in bioinformatic analyses.
Techniques
- Positional cloning
- Molecular markers
- Genotyping by Sequencing (GbS)
- Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS)
- RNAseq/qRT-PCR
- Quantitative PCR
- Cloning/Vector construction
- GC-MS-based metabolite profiling
- Light and confocal microscopy
- SEM, TEM
- Phenotypic analyses on floral and reproductive development
- Glasshouse and field work
- Biolistic and Agrobacterium mediated transformation
- Genome editing
References
- Whitford, R., Fleury, D., Reif, J.C., Garcia, M., Okada, T., Korzun, V., and Langridge, P. (2013) Hybrid breeding in wheat: technologies to improve hybrid wheat seed production. Journal of Experimental Botany (Darwin Review) DOI: 10.1093/jxb/ert333.
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2022 - ongoing Industry-funded Senior Scientist University of Adelaide 2020 - 2022 Consultant Self-employed 2019 - ongoing Affiliate Senior Research Scientist The University of Adelaide 2008 - 2018 Senior Research Scientist Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics 2002 - 2003 Molecular Biologist Bayer Cropscience -
Awards and Achievements
Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount 2015 Award Adelaide University Emerging Industry Research Partnership Award University of Adelaide Australia - 2001 Nomination Young Australian of the Year in the Science and Technology - Australia - 1998 Award National Farmers Federation Prize University of Western Australia Australia - 1997 Award Eva Sobotka Memorial Prize University of Western Australia Australia - 1997 Award Henry (Senior) Seeligson Memorial Prize University of Western Australia Australia - -
Language Competencies
Language Competency Dutch; Flemish Can read, speak and understand spoken -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 1999 - 2002 University of Adelaide Australia PhD 1994 - 1997 University of Western Australia Australia Bachelor of Science Honours (1A) -
Postgraduate Training
Date Title Institution Country 1998 - 2002 PhD University of Adelaide Australia Postdoctoral Fellow Ghent University Belgium -
Certifications
Date Title Institution name Country — HLTAIDOO1 St John WA Australia — HLTAIDOO2 St John WA Australia — HLTAID003 St John WA Australia — Cat 1. Offshore Sea Survival Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron Australia -
Research Interests
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Journals
Year Citation 2022 Selva, C., Yang, X., Shirley, N., Whitford, R., Baumann, U., & Tucker, M. (2022). <i>HvSL1</i>and<i>HvMADS16</i>promote stamen identity to restrict multiple ovary formation in barley.
2022 Selva, C., Shirley, N., Houston, K., Whitford, R., Baumann, U., Li, G., & Tucker, M. R. (2022). HvLEAFY controls the early stages of floral organ specification and inhibits the formation of multiple ovaries in barley. The Plant Journal, 108(2), 509-527.
Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC22021 Nagahatenna, D. S. K., Tiong, J., Edwards, E. J., Langridge, P., & Whitford, R. (2021). Altering tetrapyrrole biosynthesis by overexpressing ferrochelatases (Fc1 and Fc2) improves photosynthetic efficiency in transgenic barley. Agronomy, 10(9), 1-15.
2021 Okada, T., Jayasinghe, R. M., Eckermann, P., Watson-Haigh, N. S., Warner, P., Williams, M. E., . . . Whitford, R. (2021). Genetic factors associated with favourable pollinator traits in the wheat cultivar Piko. FUNCTIONAL PLANT BIOLOGY, 48(4), 434-447.
Scopus2 WoS3 Europe PMC22021 Serra, H., Svačina, R., Baumann, U., Whitford, R., Sutton, T., Bartoš, J., & Sourdille, P. (2021). Ph2 encodes the mismatch repair protein MSH7-3D that inhibits wheat homoeologous recombination.. Nat Commun, 12(1), 1-10.
Scopus31 WoS26 Europe PMC162020 Nagahatenna, D. S. K., Parent, B., Edwards, E. J., Langridge, P., & Whitford, R. (2020). Barley plants overexpressing ferrochelatases (HvFC1 and HvFC2) show improved photosynthetic rates and have reduced photo-oxidative damage under drought stress than non-transgenic controls. Agronomy, 10(9), 1-21.
Scopus5 WoS42020 Selva, C., Riboni, M., Baumann, U., Wurschum, T., Whitford, R., & Tucker, M. R. (2020). Hybrid breeding in wheat: how shaping the floral biology can offer new perspectives. Functional Plant Biology, 47(8), 47-8.
Scopus11 WoS11 Europe PMC42019 Okada, A., Arndell, T., Borisjuk, N., Sharma, N., Watson-Haigh, N. S., Tucker, E. J., . . . Whitford, R. (2019). CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of Ms1 enables the rapid generation of male-sterile hexaploid wheat lines for use in hybrid seed production. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 17(10), 1905-1913.
Scopus82 WoS73 Europe PMC352019 Okada, T., Jayasinghe, R. M., Eckermann, P., Watson-Haigh, N. S., Warner, P., Hendrikse, Y., . . . Whitford, R. (2019). Effects of Rht-B1 and Ppd-D1 loci on pollinator traits in wheat. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 132(7), 1965-1979.
Scopus19 WoS19 Europe PMC82019 Suchecki, R., Sandhu, A., Deschamps, S., Llaca, V., Wolters, P., Watson-Haigh, N., . . . Baumann, U. (2019). LNISKS: Reference-free mutation identification for large and complex crop genomes. Biorxiv.
2019 Pallotta, M. A., Warner, P., Kouidri, A., Tucker, E. J., Baes, M., Suchecki, R., . . . Whitford, R. (2019). Wheat ms5 male-sterility is induced by recessive homoeologous A and D genome non-specific lipid transfer proteins. Plant Journal, 99(4), 673-685.
Scopus26 WoS24 Europe PMC92019 Jia, Y., Selva, C., Zhang, Y., Li, B., McFawn, L. A., Broughton, S., . . . Li, C. (2019). Uncovering the evolutionary origin of blue anthocyanins in cereal grains.. The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology, 101(5), 1057-1074.
Scopus22 WoS25 Europe PMC112019 Arndell, T., Sharma, N., Langridge, P., Baumann, U., Watson-Haigh, N. S., & Whitford, R. (2019). gRNA validation for wheat genome editing with the CRISPR-Cas9 system.. BMC biotechnology, 19(1), 71.
Scopus33 WoS27 Europe PMC152018 Kouidri, A., Whitford, R., Suchecki, R., Kalashyan, E., & Baumann, U. (2018). Genome-wide identification and analysis of non-specific Lipid Transfer Proteins in hexaploid wheat. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 12 pages.
Scopus11 WoS9 Europe PMC62018 Kouidri, A., Baumann, U., Okada, T., Baes, M., Tucker, E., & Whitford, R. (2018). Wheat TaMs1 is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored lipid transfer protein necessary for pollen development. BMC Plant Biology, 18(1), 13 pages.
Scopus15 WoS16 Europe PMC92018 Okada, T., Jayasinghe, R., Nansamba, M., Baes, M., Warner, P., Kouidri, A., . . . Baumann, U. (2018). Unfertilized ovary pushes wheat flower open for cross-pollination. Journal of Experimental Botany, 69(3), 399-412.
Scopus23 WoS22 Europe PMC122017 Ferdous, J., Whitford, R., Nguyen, M., Brien, C., Langridge, P., & Tricker, P. (2017). Drought-inducible expression of Hv-miR827 enhances drought tolerance in transgenic barley. Functional and Integrative Genomics, 17(2-3), 279-292.
Scopus44 WoS35 Europe PMC162015 Nagahatenna, D., Langridge, P., & Whitford, R. (2015). Tetrapyrrole-based drought stress signalling. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 13(4), 447-459.
Scopus49 WoS38 Europe PMC182010 Mortier, V., Den Herder, G., Whitford, R., Van de Velde, W., Rombauts, S., D'haeseleer, K., . . . Goormachtig, S. (2010). CLE peptides control medicago truncatula nodulation locally and systemically. Plant Physiology, 153(1), 222-237.
Scopus232 WoS220 Europe PMC1622008 Whitford, R., Fernandez, A., De Groodt, R., Ortega, E., & Hilson, P. (2008). Plant CLE peptides from two distinct functional classes synergistically induce division of vascular cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(47), 18625-18630.
Scopus164 WoS159 Europe PMC1182007 Whitford, R., Baumann, U., Sutton, T., Gumaelius, L., Wolters, P., Tingey, S., . . . Langridge, P. (2007). Identification of transposons, retroelements, and a gene family predominantly expressed in floral tissues in chromosome 3DS of the hexaploid wheat progenitor Aegilops tauschii. Functional & Integrative Genomics, 7(1), 37-52.
Scopus8 WoS7 Europe PMC42006 Underwood, B., Vanderhaeghen, R., Whitford, R., Town, C., & Hilson, P. (2006). Simultaneous high-throughput recombinational cloning of open reading frames in closed and open configurations. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 4(3), 317-324.
Scopus14 WoS14 Europe PMC102005 Dong, C., Thomas, S., Becker, D., Lorz, H., Whitford, R., Sutton, T., . . . Langridge, P. (2005). WM5: Isolation and characterisation of a gene expressed during early meiosis and shoot meristem development in wheat. Functional Plant Biology, 32(3), 249-258.
Scopus8 WoS7 Europe PMC32005 Dong, C., Thomas, S., Becker, D., Lörz, H., Whitford, R., Sutton, T., . . . Langridge, P. (2005). WM5: Isolation and characterisation of a gene expressed during early meiosis and shoot meristem development in wheat.. Functional plant biology : FPB, 32(3), 249-258.
Europe PMC22003 Sutton, T., Whitford, R., Baumann, U., Dong, C., Able, J., & Langridge, P. (2003). The Ph2 pairing homoeologous locus of wheat (Triticum aestivum): identification of candidate meiotic genes using a comparative genetics approach. Plant Journal, 36(4), 443-456.
Scopus63 WoS54 Europe PMC422002 Dong, C., Whitford, R., & Langridge, P. (2002). A DNA mismatch repair gene links to the Ph2 locus in wheat. Genome, 45(1), 116-124.
Scopus42 WoS40 Europe PMC29 -
Books
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Book Chapters
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Conference Papers
Year Citation 2013 Anbalagan, R., Kovalchuk, N., Parent, B., Kovalchuk, A., Okamoto, M., Whitford, R., & Haefele, S. M. (2013). A phenotyping platform for transgenic wheat: Method and initial results. In J. Piantadosi, R. S. Anderssen, & J. Boland (Eds.), Proceedings - 20th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, MODSIM 2013 (pp. 496-502). Adelaide, AUSTRALIA: MODELLING & SIMULATION SOC AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND INC.
Scopus2 WoS22004 Sutton, T., Whitford, R., Baumann, U., Able, J., Lazo, G., & Langridge, P. (2004). Genomics approaches to identify meiotic genes in wheat. In Plant & Animal Genome XII : conference abstracts (pp. W143). San Diego, CA. -
Conference Items
Year Citation 2018 Selva, C., Tucker, M. R., Baumann, U., & Whitford, R. (2018). Floral development in barley: characterization of multiovary mutants. Poster session presented at the meeting of International Congress on Sexual Plant Reproduction. Japan. 2017 Selva, C., Tucker, M. R., Baumann, U., & Whitford, R. (2017). The benefits of sterility: characterizing multiovary mutants for hybrid seed production. Poster session presented at the meeting of Combined biosciences - ComBio. Australia. 2014 Whitford, R., Nagahatenna, D., & Langridge, P. (2014). Overexpression of type I Ferrochelatase (FCI) enhances wilting avoidance in barley (Hordeum vulgare). Poster session presented at the meeting of International Association for Plant Biotechnology Congress 2014. Melbourne, Australia: http://www.iapb2014congress.com/. 2013 Tucker, E., Okada, T., Warner, P., Manning, S., Baes, M., Kouidri, A., . . . Whitford, R. (2013). Towards the development of a fertility control system for hybrid wheat breeding. Poster session presented at the meeting of Wheat Breeders Assembly. Brisbane, Australia: http://wheatbreedingassembly.com.au/. 2009 Whitford, R., Fernandez, A., Cuellar, A., Kleine-Vehn, J., De Groodt, R., Vanneste, S., . . . Hilson, P. (2009). Local action of GOLVEN secretory peptides stabilizes an auxin efflux carrier during plant gravitropic responses. Poster session presented at the meeting of 20th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research. Edinburgh, Scotland. 2008 Mortier, V., Den Herder, G., Van de Velde, W., Whitford, R., Holsters, M., & Goormachtig, S. (2008). CLE peptide signaling during nodulation on Medicago truncatula. Poster session presented at the meeting of 8th European Nitrogen Fixation Conference. Gent, Belgium. 2008 Whitford, R., Fernandez, A., Kleine-Vehn, J., De Groodt, R., Vanneste, S., Beeckman, T., . . . Hilson, P. (2008). GOLVEN secretory peptides control plant gravitropism. Poster session presented at the meeting of 19th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research. Montreal, Canada. 2008 Mortier, V., Den Herder, G., Van de Velde, W., Whitford, R., Holsters, M., & Goormachtig, S. (2008). CLE peptide signaling during nodulation on Medicago truncatula. Poster session presented at the meeting of 4th EPSO Conference. Toulon (Côte d’Azur), France. 2006 Underwood, B. A., Xiao, Y. -L., Wu, H. C., Moskal, W. A., Wang, W., Monaghan, E. L., . . . Town, C. D. (2006). High throughput full-length cDNA cloning of low-expressing genes in Arabidopsis. Poster session presented at the meeting of Plant Biology 2006. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: http://abstracts.aspb.org/. -
Patents
Year Citation 2016 Whitford, R., Baumann, U., Tucker, E., Cigan, M., & Albertsen, M. C. (2016). WO/2016/048891, Wheat Ms1 Polynucleotides, Polypeptides, and Methods of Use. United States of America. 2016 Whitford, R., Baumann, U., Tucker, E., Cigan, M., & Albertsen, M. C. (2016). WO/2016/048891, Wheat Ms1 Polynucleotides, Polypeptides, and Methods of Use. United States of America. 2016 Whitford, R. (2016). WO/2016/048891, Wheat Ms1 polynucleotides, polypeptides and methods of use. United States of America. 2016 Whitford, R. (2016). WO/2016/048891, Wheat Ms1 polynucleotides, polypeptides and methods of use. United States of America. 2014 Whitford, R., & Nagahatenna, D. (2014). US 62/059069, Ferrochelatase compositions and methods to increase agronomic performance of plants. United States of America. 2014 Whitford, R., & Nagahatenna, D. (2014). US 62/059069, Ferrochelatase compositions and methods to increase agronomic performance of plants. United States of America. 2005 Bastiaans, H., Donn, G., Knittel, N., Martelletti, A., Rees, R., Schwall, M., & Whitford, R. (2005). International Application No.: PCT/EP2004/014262, Plant growth regulation (2,4-diamino-5-substituted-thiazole derivatives as phytoregulators). 2005 Bastiaans, H., Donn, G., Knittel, N., Martelletti, A., Rees, R., Schwall, M., & Whitford, R. (2005). WO/2005/107466, “PLANT GROWTH REGULATION - indolinone derivatives as phytoregulators”. 2005 Bastiaans, H., Donn, G., Knittel, N., Martelletti, A., Rees, R., Schwall, M., & Whitford, R. (2005). WO/2005/107471, "PLANT GROWTH REGULATION - azepinone derivative as phytoregulators". 2005 Bastiaans, H., Donn, G., Knittel, N., Martelletti, A., Rees, R., Schwall, M., & Whitford, R. (2005). WO/2005/107472, "PLANT GROWTH REGULATION - Substituierte 2-amino-6-oxy-purine as phytoregulators". 2005 Bastiaans, H., Donn, G., Knittel, N., Martelletti, A., Rees, R., Schwall, M., & Whitford, R. (2005). WO/2005/107465, “PLANT GROWTH REGULATION - 3,4-disubstituted maleimideals as phytoregulators”. -
Theses
Year Citation 2001 Whitford, R. (2001). From intimate chromosome associations to wild sex in wheat. (PhD Thesis, The University of Adelaide).
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Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2016 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Understanding Flower Development in Barley (Hordeum Vulgare) through Characterisation of Multiovary Mov Mutants and Their Potential Use in Hybrid Breeding Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Caterina Selva 2014 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Wheat non-specific Lipid Transfer Proteins: identification and characterisation of nuclear-encoded fertility restorer genes Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Allan Kouidri 2014 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Genome editing in wheat with CRISPR/Cas9 Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Taj Arndell 2011 - 2015 Co-Supervisor Investigating the Role of Tetrapyrrole Biosynthesis under Drought Stress in Cereal Transgenics Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Dilu Nagahatenna
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Editorial Boards
Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country 2020 - ongoing Editor Agronomy Journal University of Adelaide Australia 2018 - ongoing Editor Frontiers in Plant Science University of Adelaide Australia
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External Profiles