Rapid wheat genome sequencing offers hope for disease resistance

From Nature Middle East, 17 March 2022:

A new genome sequencing method has enabled the rapid sequencing of a highly disease-resistant wheat variety, which could guide the breeding of cultivars that have long-lasting immunity to the devastating fungal stripe rust disease.
The wheat genome is difficult to sequence because it is around five times larger than the human genome. Until 2018, when the first complete wheat genome was sequenced, it was considered an impossible task.
Simon Krattinger, of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, and colleagues. used a new technology called circular consensus sequencing – which can read long stretches of DNA far more accurately and quickly than before – to sequence the genome of the South African wheat cultivar, Kariega . This cultivar is unique in having long-lasting resistance to the fungal stripe rust disease, while many other disease-resistant cultivars lose their resistance after several years. Read more.