CULTIVAR DEVELOPMENT: ACCELERATED INTROGRESSION OF SYNTHETIC HEXAPLOID DERIVED DIVERSITY INTO AN APPLIED HARD WINTER WHEAT BREEDING PROGRAM

This project will improve our understanding of the general principles that enable pathogens to jump to and spread in new host populations. To this end we will use AIVs, a major cause of disease in humans and animals world-wide, as a model system. We will bring together ecology, evolutionary biology, virology and mathematical modelling to develop novel analytical tools that will enable the quantification of risk of influenza emergence based on the combination of environmental, host, and pathogen-associated factors. This work will address the following research questions: i) how does bird migration and population size impact interspecific transmission of AIVs to horses; ii) how does cross immunity affect virus susceptibility and transmission dynamics of AIVs in horse populations; iii) what is the fitness landscape of AIVs in horses; and iv) what evolutionary mechanisms (mutation and/or reassortment) are the most likely to increase AIV fitness in horses in nature?