Staff Profile:Professor Donal O'Sullivan

Name:

Professor Donal O'Sullivan

Job Title:

Professor in Crop Science

Responsibilities:

Areas of Interest:

Incremental year-on-year gain in yield obtained through plant breeding represents a major pillar on which global food security rests. It is widely accepted that in order to deliver continued yield increases into the future, plant breeding needs to enhance conventional phenotypic selection with a variety of marker-assisted selection and genetic modification technologies. My research is focused on implementing methods and technologies for efficient genetic analysis of relevant agronomic and quality traits primarily in two contrasting and complementary crop species: wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) - the most important arable cereal in the UK and faba bean (Vicia faba L.), our most important arable legume crop. Wheat is a polyploid, selfing member of the grass family, while faba bean is a diploid, outcrossing dicot. Nutritionally, combinations of carbohydrate-rich grains and protein-rich pulses form the staple diet of most of the world's population and agronomically, nitrogen-fixing faba bean boosts nitrogen availability and reduces cost and environmental impact when included in a wheat-based arable rotation.

We use high throughput SNP genotyping platforms such as Illumina's iSelect and so-called next generation re-sequencing to sample variation across the genome of interest. With most genotyping activities being outsourced, the major effort of the lab is focused on population development including large panels of inbred lines for linkage disequilibrium (association) mapping, mutant and multi-parent populations, large-scale field and lab-based phenotyping of these populations and quantitative genetic analysis of the very large resulting datasets. Although increasingly, the emphasis of my research is on interactions between multiple loci affecting a trait, between traits, and on the relationship between an integrative trait such as yield and the its many components, specific trait interests include resistance to fungal pathogens of wheat (particularly yellow rust and ergot) and herbicide resistance and nutritional quality in faba bean.

Career History:

My PhD research, conducted between University College Dublin (Dublin, Ireland) and Université Paris XI (Orsay, France), was on the genome dynamics of Colletotrichum lindemuthianum - the common bean anthracnose pathogen (O'Sullivan et al, 1998). The quest to separate fungal chromosomes using pulsed field gel electrophoresis during my PhD led me into the other major application of the technique - the creation of Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) libraries in plants and in the course of my postdoc at Long Ashton Research Station, made maize (O'Sullivan et al, 2001) and common bean BAC libraries which went on to be utilised in a variety of physical mapping and positional cloning applications (Gutierrez-Marcos et al, 2004; D'Ovidio et al, 2004). After a brief interlude at the University of Bristol dedicated to the positional cloning of root hair genes, I moved to a project leader position at NIAB, Cambridge in 2003.

Association genetics in plants was just getting off the ground as I moved to Cambridge, and my principal aim was to develop association genetics approaches in crop species. Initially, meaningful numbers of molecular markers were sadly lacking in the key wheat and barley crops and early studies explored haplotype diversity in relation to phenotype across a handful of candidate genes (Chiapparino et al 2006; Cockram et al, 2007). However, over time, ever higher throughput SNP genotyping platforms emerged and we were well placed with large panels of elite varietal material benefitting from extensive historical datasets, and were able to launch successful association genetics projects first in barley (Cockram et al, 2010) and more recently in wheat.

Initially as something of a side activity, I became interested in faba bean, which had been woefully neglected by the academic community in recent decades. Building a genetics toolkit for faba bean has been slow work, but some years on, we have developed panels of inbred lines, a SNP genotyping platform and commenced some phenotypic trait screens (Cottage et al, 2012; Khamassi et al, 2013).

Research groups / Centres:

Centre for Food Security

Crop Production Research Division

Publications:

Y

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Number of items: 40.

2018

• Maalouf, F., Hu, J., O'Sullivan, D. M., Zong, X., Hamwieh, A., Kumar, S. and Baum, M. (2018) Breeding and genomics status in faba bean (Vicia faba). Plant Breeding. ISSN 1439-0523 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/pbr.12644

2017

• Bishop, J., Jones, H. E., O'Sullivan, D. M. and Potts, S. G. (2017) Elevated temperature drives a shift from selfing to outcrossing in the insect pollinated legume, faba bean (Vicia faba). Journal of Experimental Botany, 68 (8). pp. 2055-2063. ISSN 0022-0957 doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erw430
• Menzies, J. G., Klein-Gebbinck, H. W., Gordon, A. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2017) Evaluation of Claviceps purpurea isolates on wheat reveals complex virulence and host susceptibility relationships. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology, 39 (3). pp. 307-317. ISSN 0706-0661 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/07060661.2017.1355334

2016

• O'Sullivan, D. M. and Angra, D. (2016) Advances in faba bean genetics and genomics. Frontiers in Genetics, 7. 150. ISSN 1664-8021 doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2016.00150
• Gardiner, L.-J., Bansept-Basler, P., Olohan, L., Joynson, R., Brenchley, R., Hall, N., O'Sullivan, D. M. and Hall, A. (2016) Mapping-by-sequencing in complex polyploid genomes using genic sequence capture: a case study to map yellow rust resistance in hexaploid wheat. The Plant Journal, 87 (4). pp. 403-419. ISSN 0960-7412 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.13204
• Webb, A., Cottage, A., Wood, T., Khamassi, K., Hobbs, D., Gostkiewicz, K., White, M., Khazaei, H., Ali, M., Street, D., Duc, G., Stoddard, F., Maalouf, F., Ogbonnaya, F. C., Link, W., Thomas, J. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2016) A SNP-based consensus genetic map for synteny-based trait targeting in faba bean (Vicia faba L.). Plant Biotechnology Journal, 14 (1). pp. 177-185. ISSN 1467-7652 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.12371

2015

• Gordon, A., Basler, R., Bansept-Basler, P., Fanstone, V., Harinarayan, L., Grant, P. K., Birchmore, R., Bayles, R. A., Boyd, L. A. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2015) The identification of QTL controlling ergot sclerotia size in hexaploid wheat implicates a role for the Rht dwarfing alleles. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 128 (12). pp. 2447-2460. ISSN 1432-2242 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-015-2599-5
• Cockram, J., Horsnell, R., Soh, E.-h., Norris, C. and O'Sullivan, D. (2015) Molecular and phenotypic characterization of the alternative seasonal growth habit and flowering time in barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare L.). Molecular Breeding, 35 (8). 165. ISSN 1380-3743 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-015-0359-5
• Khazaei, H., O'Sullivan, D. M., Jones, H., Pitts, N., Sillanpää, M. J., Pärssinen, P., Manninen, O. and Stoddard, F. L. (2015) Flanking SNP markers for vicine–convicine concentration in faba bean (Vicia faba L). Molecular Breeding, 35 (1). 38. ISSN 1380-3743 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-015-0214-8

2014

• Khazaei, H., O'Sullivan, D. M., Sillanpää, M. J. and Stoddard, F. L. (2014) Use of synteny to identify candidate genes underlying QTL controlling stomatal traits in faba bean (Vicia faba L.). Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 127 (11). pp. 2371-2385. ISSN 0040-5752 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-014-2383-y
• Mackay, I. J., Bansept-Basler, P., Barber, T., Bentley, A. R., Cockram, J., Gosman, N., Greenland, A. J., Horsnell, R., Howells, R., O'Sullivan, D. M., Rose, G. A. and Howell, P. J. (2014) An eight-parent multiparent advanced generation inter-cross population for winter-sown wheat: creation, properties, and validation. G3, 4 (9). pp. 1603-1610. ISSN 2160-1836 doi: https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.114.012963
• Kalunke, R. M., Cenci, A., Volpi, C., O'Sullivan, D. M., Sella, L., Favaron, F., Cervone, F., De Lorenzo, G. and D’Ovidio, R. (2014) The pgip family in soybean and three other legume species: evidence for a birth-and-death model of evolution. BMC Plant Biology, 14 (1). 189. ISSN 1471-2229 doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-014-0189-3
• Khazaei, H., O'Sullivan, D., Sillanää, M. J. and Stoddard, F. L. (2014) Genetic analysis reveals a novel locus in Vicia faba decoupling pigmentation in the flower from that in the extra-floral nectaries. Molecular Breeding, 34 (3). pp. 1507-1513. ISSN 1380-3743 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-014-0100-9

2013

• Volpi, C., Raiola, A., Janni, M., Gordon, A., O'Sullivan, D. M., Favaron, F. and D'Ovidio, R. (2013) Claviceps purpurea expressing polygalacturonases escaping PGIP inhibition fully infects PvPGIP2 wheat transgenic plants but its infection is delayed in wheat transgenic plants with increased level of pectin methyl esterification. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 73. pp. 294-301. ISSN 09819428 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2013.10.011
• Lister, D. L., Jones, H., Jones, M. K., O'Sullivan, D. M. and Cockram, J. (2013) Analysis of DNA polymorphism in ancient barley herbarium material: validation of the KASP SNP genotyping platform. Taxon, 62 (4). pp. 779-789. ISSN 0040-0262 doi: https://doi.org/10.12705/624.9
• Khamassi, K., Ben Jeddi, F., Hobbs, D., Irigoyen, J., Stoddard, F., O'Sullivan, D. M. and Jones, H. (2013) A baseline study of vicine–convicine levels in faba bean (Vicia faba L.) germplasm. Plant Genetic Resources, 11 (03). pp. 250-257. ISSN 1479-2621 doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1479262113000105
• Jones, H., Norris, C., Smith, D., Cockram, J., Lee, D., O'Sullivan, D. M. and Mackay, I. (2013) Evaluation of the use of high-density SNP genotyping to implement UPOV Model 2 for DUS testing in barley. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 126 (4). pp. 901-911. ISSN 1432-2242 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-012-2024-2
• Boyd, L. A., Ridout, C., O'Sullivan, D. M., Leach, J. E. and Leung, H. (2013) Plant–pathogen interactions: disease resistance in modern agriculture. Trends in Genetics, 29 (4). pp. 233-240. ISSN 0168-9525 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2012.10.011
• Schardl, C. L., Young, C. A., Hesse, U., Amyotte, S. G., Andreeva, K., Calie, P. J., Fleetwood, D. J., Haws, D. C., Moore, N., Oeser, B., Panaccione, D. G., Schweri, K. K., Voisey, C. R., Farman, M. L., Jaromczyk, J. W., Roe, B. A., O'Sullivan, D. M., Scott, B., Tudzynski, P., An, Z., Arnaoudova, E. G., Bullock, C. T., Charlton, N. D., Chen, L., Cox, M., Dinkins, R. D., Florea, S., Glenn, A. E., Gordon, A., Güldener, U., Harris, D. R., Hollin, W., Jaromczyk, J., Johnson, R. D., Khan, A. K., Leistner, E., Leuchtmann, A., Li, C., Liu, J., Liu, J., Liu, M., Mace, W., Machado, C., Nagabhyru, P., Pan, J., Schmid, J., Sugawara, K., Steiner, U., Takach, J. E., Tanaka, E., Webb, J. S., Wilson, E. V., Wiseman, J. L., Yoshida, R. and Zeng, Z. (2013) Plant-symbiotic fungi as chemical engineers: multi-genome analysis of the Clavicipitaceae reveals dynamics of alkaloid Loci. PLoS Genetics, 9 (2). e1003323. ISSN 1553-7404 doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003323

2012

• Cockram, J., Jones, H., Norris, C. and O'Sullivan, D. M., (2012) Evaluation of diagnostic molecular markers for DUS phenotypic assessment in the cereal crop, barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare L.). Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 125 (8). pp. 1735-1749. ISSN 1432-2242 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-012-1950-3
• Cottage, A., Gostkiewicz, K., Thomas, J. E., Borrows, R., Torres, A.-M. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2012) Heterozygosity and diversity analysis using mapped single nucelotide polymorphisms in a faba bean inbreeding programme. Molecular Breeding, 30 (4). pp. 1799-1809. ISSN 1572-9788 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-012-9745-4
• Cockram, J., Steuernagel, B., Thiel, T., Stein, N., Taudien, S., Bailey, P. C. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2012) Genome dynamics explain the evolution of flowering time CCT domain gene families in the Poaceae. PLoS ONE, 7 (9). e45307. ISSN 1932-6203 doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045307
• Rodriguez, M., Rau, D., O'Sullivan, D. M., Brown, A. H. D., Papa, R. and Attene, G. (2012) Genetic structure and linkage disequilibrium in landrace populations of barley in Sardinia. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 125 (1). pp. 171-184. ISSN 1432-2242 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-012-1824-8

2011

• Cockram, J., Hones, H. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2011) Genetic variation at flowering time loci in wild and cultivated barley. Plant Genetic Resources, 9 (2). pp. 264-267. ISSN 1479-263X doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1479262111000505

2010

• Cockram, J., White, J., Zuluaga, D. L., Smith, D., Comadran, J., Macaulay, M., Luo, Z., Kearsey, M. J., Werner, P., Harrap, D., Tapsell, C., Liu, H., Hedley, P. E., Stein, N., Schulte, D., Steuernagel, B., Marshall, D. F., Thomas, W. T. B., Ramsay, L., Mackay, I., Balding, D. J., Waugh, R. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2010) Genome-wide association mapping to candidate polymorphism resolution in the unsequenced barley genome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107 (50). pp. 21611-21616. ISSN 1091-6490 doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1010179107
• Howells, R. M., Cockram, J. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2010) Segmental chromosomal duplications harbouring group IV CONSTANS-like genes in cereals. Genome, 53 (3). pp. 231-240. ISSN 1480-3321 doi: https://doi.org/10.1139/G09-101

2009

• Cockram, J., Norris, C. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2009) PCR-based markers diagnostic for spring and winter seasonal growth habit in barley. Crop Science, 49 (2). pp. 403-410. ISSN 1435-0653 doi: https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2008.07.0398

2008

• Cockram, J., White, J., Leigh, F. J., Lea, V. J., Chiapparino, E., Laurie, D. A., Mackay, I. J., Powell, W. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2008) Association mapping of partitioning loci in barley. BMC Genetics, 9. 16. ISSN 1471-2156 doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2156-9-16

2007

• Rae, S. J., Macaulay, M., Ramsay, L., Leigh, F., Matthews, D., O'Sullivan, D. M., Donini, P., Morris, P. C., Powell, W., Marshall, D. F., Waugh, R. and Thomas, W. T. B. (2007) Molecular barley breeding. Euphytica, 158 (3). pp. 295-303. ISSN 0014-2336 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-006-9166-8
• Cockram, J., Mackay, I. J. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2007) The role of double-stranded break repair in the creation of phenotypic diversity at cereal VRN1 loci. Genetics, 177 (4). pp. 2535-2539. ISSN 0016-6731 doi: https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.107.074765
• Cockram, J., Chiapparino, E., Taylor, S. A., Stamati, K., Donini, P., Laurie, D. A. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2007) Haplotype analysis of vernalization loci in European barley germplasm reveals novel VRN-H1 alleles and a predominant winter VRN-H1/VRN-H2 multi-locus haplotype. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 115 (7). pp. 993-1001. ISSN 1432-2242 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-007-0626-x
• Cockram, J., Jones, H., Leigh, F. J., O'Sullivan, D. M., Powell, W., Laurie, D. A. and Greenland, A. J. (2007) Control of flowering time in temperate cereals: genes, domestication, and sustainable productivity. Journal of Experimental Botany, 58 (6). pp. 1231-1244. ISSN 0022-0957 doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erm042

2006

• Doveri, S., O'Sullivan, D. M. and Lee, D. (2006) Non-concordance between genetic profiles of olive oil and fruit: a cautionary note to the use of DNA markers for provenance testing. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 54 (24). pp. 9221-6. ISSN 0021-8561 doi: https://doi.org/10.1021/jf061564a
• Chiapparino, E., Donini, P., Reeves, J., Tuberosa, R. and O'Sullivan, D. M. (2006) Distribution of β-amylase I haplotypes among European cultivated barleys. Molecular Breeding, 18 (4). pp. 341-354. ISSN 1380-3743 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-006-9035-0
• Rodriguez, M., O'Sullivan, D. M., Donini, P., Papa, R., Chiapparino, E., Leigh, F. and Attene, G. (2006) Integration of retrotransposons-based markers in a linkage map of barley. Molecular Breeding, 17 (2). pp. 173-184. ISSN 1572-9788 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-005-4885-4

2005

• Donnison, I. S., O'Sullivan, D. M., Thomas, A., Canter, P., Moore, B., Armstead, I., Thomas, H., Edwards, K. J. and King, I. P. (2005) Construction of a Festuca pratensis BAC library for map-based cloning in Festulolium substitution lines. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 110 (5). pp. 846-851. ISSN 1432-2242 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-004-1870-y

2004

• D'Ovidio, R., Raiola, A., Capodicasa, C., Devoto, A., Pontiggia, D., Roberti, S., Galletti, R., Conti, E., O'Sullivan, D. M. and De Lorenzo, G. (2004) Characterization of the complex locus of bean encoding polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins reveals subfunctionalization for defense against fungi and insects. Plant Physiology, 135 (4). pp. 2424-2435. ISSN 0032-0889
• Gutiérrez-Marcos, J. F., Costa, L. M., Biderre-Petit, C., Khbaya, B., O'Sullivan, D. M., Wormald, M., Perez, P. and Dickinson, H. G. (2004) Maternally expressed gene1 is a novel maize endosperm transfer cell-specific gene with a maternal parent-of-origin pattern of expression. The Plant Cell, 16 (5). pp. 1288-1301. ISSN 1040-4651

2001

• O'Sullivan, D. M., Ripoll, P. J., Rodgers, M. and Edwards, K. J. (2001) A maize bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library from the European flint inbred line F2. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 103 (2-3). pp. 425-432. ISSN 1432-2242 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s001220100605

1998

• O'Sullivan, D. M., Tosi, P., Creusot, F., Cooke, B. M., Phan, T.-H., Dron, M. and Langin, T. (1998) Variation in genome organization of the plant pathogenic fungus Colletotrichum lindemuthianum. Current Genetics, 33 (4). pp. 291-298. ISSN 0172-8083 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002940050339

This list was generated on Tue May 21 00:24:17 2019 UTC.

Qualifications:

BSc; PhD