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Simon Krattinger

Chair of the Plant Science Program | Associate Professor of Plant Science

Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division

simon.krattinger@kaust.edu.sa


Affiliations

Education Profile

  • Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 2013
  • Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, CSIRO, Canberra, Australia, 2010-2012
  • PhD, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 2009
  • MSC, University of Zurich, Switzerland 2005

Research Interests

​Professor Krattinger's research focuses on cereal genomics and plant-pathogen interactions. His group develops novel genomic approaches to unravel the genetic and molecular basis of stress adaptation in cereals, with a particular interest in the perception, signaling and response to fungal pathogens in wheat. Cereal crop plants such as wheat, rice, maize and barley are of paramount importance to ensure global food security. Disturbances caused by pathogens, pests and adverse climatic conditions pose a constant threat to cereal production. However, our current knowledge of the fundamental molecular processes that make certain cereal plants resilient to these stresses is still limited. Research on the genetic and molecular basis of stress perception, signaling and adaptation is therefore of uttermost relevance but also of great scientific interest. An important aspect of our work consists in the translation of basic knowledge into breeding, with the ultimate aim to develop highly resistant crop cultivars.

Selected Publications

  • Rapid cloning of genes in hexaploid wheat using cultivar-specific long-range chromosome assembly, hind AK, Wicker T, Simkova H, Fossati D, Moullet O, Brabant C, Vrana J, Dolezel J and Krattinger SG, Nature Biotechnology, 2017.
  • Genomic compartments in barley, Keller B and Krattinger SG, Nature, 2017, 544: 424-425 (News & Views article).
  • The wheat durable, multi-pathogen resistance gene Lr34 confers partial blast resistance in rice, Krattinger SG, Sucher J, Selter LL, Chauhan H, Zhou B, Tang, M, Upadhyaya NM, Mieulet D, Guiderdoni E, Weidenbach D, Schaffrath U, Lagudah ES and Keller B, Plant Biotechnology Journal, 2016, 14: 1261-1268.
  • The maize disease resistance gene Htn1 against northern corn leaf blight encodes a wall-associated receptor-like kinase, Hurni S, Scheuermann D, Krattinger SG, Kessel B, Wicker T, Herren G, Fitze MN, Breen J, Presterl T, Ouzunova M and Keller B, PNAS, 2015, 112: 8780-8785.
  • A putative ABC transporter confers durable resistance to multiple fungal pathogens in wheat, Krattinger SG, Lagudah ES, Spielmeyer W, Sing RP, Huerta-Espino J, McFadden H, Bossolini E, Selter LL and Keller B, Science, 2009, 323: 1360-1363.