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Augusto Becerra Lopez-Lavalle

Augusto Becerra PhD MSc BSc Research Scientist/Engeneer My primary research responsibility is in understanding the genetic control of Fusarium wilt (Fov) disease resistance in cotton which often has quantitative expression Cotton has a significant economic and environmental importance and a remarkable polyploid evolution Current genetic studies undertaken by me and others indicate that genetic diversity among elite cotton cultivars is low reflecting the extreme and repeated genetic bottlenecks cotton underwent during domestication Thus the variability needed to continue enhancing the current cultivated cotton varieties for yield or pest resistance is becoming rarer I have looked to "novel germplasm" resources that have the potential to fill the voids in current commercial cotton breeding populations and enhance the progress of cultivated cotton germplasm utilization Primary germplasm pools represent the most readily accessible source of new alleles for crop improvement but when the most effective alleles are not available in the primary germplasm pool breeders must confront the difficulties associated with introgressing genes from the secondary and tertiary germplasm pools in cotton by using synthetic polyploids as introgression bridges I have used alien chromosome addition lines for genetic mapping to determine alien linkage groups controlling traits of interest their effect and distribution in the alien chromosome addition aneuploid lines to develop tools that in the future will assist cotton breeders and farmers with new and robust sources of genetic variability much needed for the sustainability of this crop Currently I am comparing genetic maps between Gossypium wild species This comparative genetic mapping approach should allow us to identify new sources of genes and to elucidate the evolutionary path follow by cotton after polyploidization My major objective is to produce comparative genetic maps in genus Gossypium