Efficient Screening Techniques to Identify Mutants with TR4 Resistance in Banana

lt;b>Joanna Jankowicz-Cieslak is a plant molecular biologist and genome scientist with over 17 years' experience in the field of molecular biology, genomics and crop improvement with the use of mutation breeding techniques. She holds a PhD in biological sciences from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. In 2019 she obtained a Habilitation degree in biology from the University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland for the work entitled "Techniques of induction and detection of genetic variability in functional genomics and breeding of plants of special importance in developing countries". Her research interests focus on the development and adaptation of new tools, protocols and guidelines for mutation induction and discovery in vegetatively propagated crops such as banana. She has extensive experience with induced mutagenesis, in vitro tissue culture, and the application of genomics tools for mutation-assisted breeding of banana. She established the first reverse genetics approach for banana showing that mutations are stably induced and inherited over successive generations. She has (co-) authored over 60 original research papers, monographs and book chapters as well as co-edited three protocol books.
Ivan Ingelbrecht (Belgian) holds a PhD in Plant Molecular Biology. Since 1994 he has worked on crop improvement for universities and international organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the USA. He has expertise in the use of modern biotechnology and molecular genetics tools for the improvement of (sub)tropical crops as a project lead and senior R&D Manager at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Nigeria (www.iita.org ) (2001-2010). He is currently involved at the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture at the IAEA (www.iaea.org) as Head of the Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory in the coordination of R&D in the field of mutation-assisted plant breeding. His current research is focused on integrating advances in plant cell culture and -omics technologies with conventional mutagenesis techniques for food security, adaptation to climate change and transboundary disease resistance in seed and vegetatively propagated crops, including Fusarium wilt in banana. He has published over 80 research items, including 56 peer-reviewed journal articles, and co-authored 3 books and 6 book chapters in the field of plant breeding and biotechnology.

Part I: Mutation Induction.- Chapter 1. Physical mutagenesis and population development in Musa spp.- Chapter 2. Gamma irradiation of embryogenic cell suspension cultures from Cavendish banana (Musa spp. AAA group) and in vitro selection for resistance to Fusarium wilt.- Part II: Fusarium TR4 Screening Technologies.- Chapter 3. Pre-screening of banana genotypes for Fusarium wilt resistance by using an in vitro bioassay.- Chapter 4. In vitro based mass-screening techniques for early selection of banana mutants resistant to Fusarium wilt.- Chapter 5. An optimised greenhouse protocol for screening banana plants for Fusarium wilt resistance.- Chapter 6. Lab-based screening using hydroponic system for the rapid detection of Fusarium wilt TR4 tolerance/resistance of banana.- Chapter 7. Field screening of gamma-irradiated Cavendish bananas.- Part III: Mutation Detection using Genomics Tools.- Chapter 8. Mutation detection using Low Coverage Copy Number Variation.- Chapter 9. A protocol for detection of large chromosome variations in banana using Next Generation Sequencing.- Part IV:Low-cost in vitro Methods for Banana Micropropagation.- Chapter 10. Low-cost in vitro methods for generation advancement in banana mutation breeding.- Chapter 11. A protocol for mass propagation of plants using a low-cost bioreactor.