Professor Diane Mather

Biography/ Background

Current position:

• Professor, Plant Breeding and Genetics, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide

Previous positions:

• Program Leader (New Molecular Technologies), Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre, 2005-2007
• Professor, Department of Plant Science, McGill University, 2002-2004
• Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill University, 1997-2004
• Associate Professor, Department of Plant Science, McGill University, 1994 to 2002
• Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Science, McGill University, 1988 to 1994
• Guest Research Fellow (Danish Government Scholar), Agricultural Research Department, Risoe National Laboratory, Denmark, 1982-83
• Quality Control Supervisor (hybrid seed corn), United Co-operatives of Ontario, Chatham, Ontario, 1978 to 1980

Qualifications

• Ph.D.,Crop breeding and genetics, University of Guelph
• M.Sc., Crop breeding and genetics, University of Guelph
• B.Sc.(Agr.), Agronomy, McGill University

Teaching Interests

• Program coordinator for the Postgraduate Certificate, Diploma and Masters programs in Plant Biotechnology.
• Course coordinator for Molecular Plant Breeding

Research Interests

Professor Mather's main research interests are:

• Inheritance and improvement of quantitative traits in crop plants
• Application of molecular markers in genetic analysis of wheat and barley
• Marker-assisted crop breeding

Publications

Professor Mather has co-authored over 90 articles in refereed journals. She has released 4 cereal cultivars. 

Recent publications:

• Shafiq S, Mather DE, Ahmad M & Paull JG (in press – accepted 7 January 2012), ‘Variation in tolerance to radiant frost at reproductive stages in field pea germplasm’, Euphytica, DOI 10.1007/s10681-012-0625-0.

• Gao X, Appelbee MJ, Mekuria GT, Chalmers KJ & Mather DE, 2012, ‘A second 'overexpression' allele at the Glu-B1 high-molecular-weight glutenin locus of wheat: sequence characterisation and functional effect’, Theoretical and Applied Genetics,  vol. 124, no. 2, pp. 333-343.

• Cakir, M, Gupta S, Li C, Hayden M, Mather DE, Ablett GA, Platz GJ, Broughton S, Chalmers KJ, Loughman R, Jones MGK & Lance RCM, 2011. ‘Genetic mapping and QTL analysis of disease resistance traits in the barley population Baudin X AC Metcalfe’, Crop and Pasture Science, vol. 63, no. 2, pp. 152-161.

• Reynolds M, Bonnett D, Chapman SC, Furbank RT, Manès Y, Mather DE & Parry MA 2011. ‘Raising yield potential of wheat: (I) Introduction and breeding strategies’, Journal of Experimental Botany vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 439-52.

• Hayden MJ, Tabone TL, Nguyen TM, Coventry S, Keiper FJ, Fox RL, Chalmers KJ,  Mather DE & Eglinton JK 2010, ‘An informative set of SNP markers for molecular characterisation of Australian barley germplasm’, Crop and Pasture Science, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 70-83.

• Tabone TL, Mather DE & Hayden MJ 2009, ‘Temperature-switch Switch PCR (TSP): Robust assay design for reliable amplification and genotyping of SNPs’, BMC Genomics vol.10, no. 580.

• Hayden, M, Tabone, T & Mather, D 2009, ‘Development and assessment of simple PCR markers for SNP genotyping in barley’, Theoretical and Applied Genetics vol. 119, no. 5, pp. 939-95.

• Appelbee, MJ, Mekuria, GT, Nagasandra, V, Bonneau, JP, Eagles, HA, Eastwood, RF & Mather, DE 2009, 'Novel allelic variants encoded at the Glu-D3 locus in bread wheat', Journal of Cereal Science, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 254-61.

• Navabi, A, Mather, DE, Bernier, J, Spaner, DM & Atlin, GN 2009, 'QTL detection with bidirectional and unidirectional selective genotyping: Marker-based and trait-based analyses', Theoretical and Applied Genetics, vol. 118, no. 2, pp. 347-58.

• Sneller, CH, Mather, DE & Crepieux, S 2009, 'Analytical approaches and population types for finding and utilizing QTL in complex plant populations', Crop Science, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 363-80.

• Burton, RA, Jobling, SA, Harvey, AJ, Shirley, NJ, Mather, DE, Bacic, A & Fincher, GB 2008, 'The genetics and transcriptional profiles of the cellulose synthase-like HvCslF gene family in barley', Plant Physiology, vol. 146, no. 4, pp. 1821-33.

• Huynh, BL, Palmer, L, Mather, DE, Wallwork, H, Graham, RD, Welch, RM & Stangoulis, JCR 2008, 'Genotypic variation in wheat grain fructan content revealed by a simplified HPLC method', Journal of Cereal Science, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 369-78.

• Huynh, BL, Wallwork, H, Stangoulis, JCR, Graham, RD, Willsmore, KL, Olson, S & Mather, DE 2008, 'Quantitative trait loci for grain fructan concentration in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)', Theoretical and Applied Genetics, vol. 117, no. 5, pp. 701-9.

• Walker, KR, Able, JA, Mather, DE & Able, AJ 2008, 'Black point formation in barley: Environmental influences and quantitative trait loci', Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, vol. 59, no. 11, pp. 1021-9.

• Panozzo, JF, Eckermann, PJ, Mather, DE, Moody, DB, Black, CK, Collins, HM, Barr, AR, Lim, P & Cullis, BR 2007, 'QTL analysis of malting quality traits in two barley populations', Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, vol. 58, no. 9, pp. 858-66.

Cultivars released

• Nice oat (D.E. Mather) Registered in Canada (2005).
• Fjord oat (D.E. Mather and H.R. Klinck) Registered in Canada (1999).
• Radisson oat. (D.E. Mather and B. Rossnagel) Registered in Canada (1998).
• Labelle barley. (D.E. Mather and H.R. Klinck) Registered in Canada (1991).

Professional Interests

• Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Theoretical and Applied Genetics.
• Member of the Advisory Board of Pulse Breeding Australia

Entry last updated: Saturday, 28 Jan 2012