Roberto Tuberosa
Dept of Agricultural Sciences, University of
Bologna
Viale G Fanin 44
40127 Bologna, Italy
Email: roberto.tuberosa@unibo.it
Academic Qualifications
1976 Bachelor of Science in Biology,
University of Bologna, Italy
1985 M.S.. in Plant Breeding, University of
Minnesota, USA
1997 Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, University of
Minnesota, USA
Employment
2002 – present
Full Professor in Plant Biotechnology and Breeding, Univ. of
Bologna
1992 – 2002
Associate Professor in Plant Biotechnology and Breeding, Univ. of
Bologna
1977 – 1992
Research Associate in Plant Breeding, Univ. of Bologna
Courses assigned:
- Biotechnology applied to plant breeding
- Plant genetics.
Research topics:
- Marker-based techniques (RFLP, AFLP, SSR, STS and SNP) for (i)
Analysis of genetic relationships in durum wheat and maize; (ii)
Mapping (via linkage and/or association mapping) of Quantitative
Trait Loci (QTL) for drought tolerance and yield in maize, barley
and durum wheat with particular emphasis on root traits; (iii) QTL
mapping and marker-assisted selection for disease resistance in
durum wheat; (iv) Positional cloning of QTL in maize
- TILLING in barley and EcoTILLING in durum wheat
From January 1994 to March 2002, R. Tuberosa was the Director of
the Central library of the Faculty of Agriculture.
During the years spent at the Department of Agronomy and Plant
Genetics, University of Minnesota, and through the research
programs carried out in collaboration with colleagues from
developing countries (China, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco,
Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon), R. Tuberosa has acquired a
multicultural and international vision of research and its
applications, particularly for topics related to cereal genomics
and tolerance to drought.
R. Tuberosa has published numerous papers in peer-reviewed
journals, volumes and conference proceedings; he is an active
member of many national and international scientific societies,
e.g. SIGA, ASA, ASPB, ESA, EUCARPIA, CSSA,
R. Tuberosa is member of the Editorial Board of Springer
(Publisher), Acta Agronomica Sinica, Journal of Plant Genomics,
Maydica, Molecular Breeding , Plant Biotechnology Journal, Plant
Breeding and Plant Genetic Resources.
R. Tuberosa is honorary scientist of the Rural Development
Administration of the Republic of South Korea; Member of the
Steering committee and Chair of the Scientific Committee of the
Italian platform “Plants for the Future”; Member of the scientific
commission for the bilateral agreement between Italy and China,
etc.
He is involved in many National and International
Projects:
· “Improving
drought tolerance and Nitrogen-use efficiency of durum wheat in the
Mediterranean basin” (TRITIMED; 2004-2009). EU (INCO-DC)
project in collaboration with 5 partners from the United Kingdom,
Spain, Morocco, Tunisia and Syria to detect QTLs for drought
tolerance and NUE in a mapping population and a collection of
accessions.
· “BIOEXPLOIT”
(2005-2009).EU project in collaboration with 43 EU partners
to identify genes/QTLs conferring tolerance to pathogens and able
to improve the sustainability of agriculture in the EU.
· “Map-based
cloning of root-ABA1, a QTL controlling root architecture in
maize” (2005-2009). Grant awarded by Pioneer-DuPont for
completing the fine mapping and positional cloning of a QTL
controlling root architecture in maize.
· “Non-GM
approaches to improve the sustainability of cereal production”
(2005-2009) awarded by the Region Emilia-Romagna to identify QTLs
controlling tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress in durum
wheat.
· “Improving yield
and quality of cereals” (2006-2008) awarded by MIUR to identify
QTLs controlling tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress in durum
wheat.
· “OPTIWHEAT”
(2006-2009) EU (INCO-DC) project in collaboration with United
Kingdom, Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan. QTLs for drought tolerance
and NUE in bread and durum wheat will be identified deploying
association mapping.
· “Mapping QTLs
for root traits in maize” (2006-2009). Grant awarded by KWS for
using an introgression library (B73 x Gaspé Flint) to identify QTLs
controlling root architecture in maize.
· “High-throughput
TILLING in barley” (2006-2009). Grant of ca. US$ 280,000
awarded by MURST to develop a high-throughput TILLING platform in
barley.
·
“TriticeaeGenome” (2008-2011). EU (FP7) project in
collaboration with 15 partners from the EU and 1 partner (ACPFG)
from Australia. A major QTL on chromosome 3BS for grain yield and
related traits will be fine-mapped; additionally, positional
cloning of the same QTLwill also be attempted.
·
“TRITIGEN:
Genomics for Triticeae improvement” (2008-2011). National
representative of a grant awarded by the EU (FP7) for a
network action on Triticeae in collaboration with 45 partners from
EU countries.
·
“Map-based
cloning of root-ABA1, a
QTL controlling root architecture in maize” (2010-2013).
Grant awarded by Pioneer-DuPont for the
positional cloning of a maize QTL on bin 2.04 controlling root
architecture.
·
“AGER” (2010-2013). Grant of awarded by the CARIPLO
Foundation for the creation of a SNP platform in durum wheat for
high-throughput profiling and the identification of genes/QTLs
governing grain quality and resistance to fungal pathogens.
·
“Mapping
novel sources of resistance to stem rust in durum wheat“
(2010-2019). Grant awarded by the
Monsanto's Beachell-Borlaug International Scholar Initiative for
the identification of genes/QTLs for stem rust resistance in durum
wheat. The project is in collaboration with partners from Ethiopia,
CIMMYT and University of Minnesota. Two graduate students from
Ethiopia (Tesfaye Letta Dugo + Alemu Admas) hasvebeen trained in molecular
techniques towards yheir Ph.D. in Crop Science.
. "PanWheatGrain to assemble the pangenome of the durum wheat. R. Tuberosa coordinates an international inititiative with over 15 partners aimed at the assembly of the durum wheat pangenome. The program will also deliver a high-quality map of durum wheat of the cv, Svevo that will become the standard for annotation o gene funcion in durum wheat, a topic of great interest to the wheat breeders.
