Simon Krattinger

Faculty

Assistant Professor of Plant Science

Location:

B2/R3275

Social Profile:

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

  • Thind AK, Wicker T, Simkova H, Fossati D, Moullet O, Brabant C, Vrana J, Dolezel J and Krattinger SG, 2017, Rapid cloning of genes in hexaploid wheat using cultivar-specific long-range chromosome assembly: Nature Biotechnology, doi:10.1038/nbt.3877
  • Keller B and Krattinger SG, 2017, Genomic compartments in barley: Nature 544: 424-425 (News & Views article).
  • 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, 2016, The wheat durable, multi-pathogen resistance gene Lr34 confers partial blast resistance in rice: Plant Biotechnology Journal 14: 1261-1268.
  • Hurni S, Scheuermann D, Krattinger SG, Kessel B, Wicker T, Herren G, Fitze MN, Breen J, Presterl T, Ouzunova M and Keller B, 2015, The maize disease resistance gene Htn1 against northern corn leaf blight encodes a wall-associated receptor-like kinase: PNAS 112: 8780-8785.
  • Krattinger SG, Lagudah ES, Spielmeyer W, Sing RP, Huerta-Espino J, McFadden H, Bossolini E, Selter LL and Keller B, 2009, A putative ABC transporter confers durable resistance to multiple fungal pathogens in wheat: Science 323: 1360-1363

Education

  • 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 

Professional Profile

    KAUST Affiliations

    CDA - Center for Desert Agriculture 

    BESE - Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering 

    Research Interests Keywords

    Cereal crops Genomics Plant-pathogen interactions Quantitative genetics