Professor Diane Mather

Biography/ Background

Current position:

• Professorial Research Fellow, Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre and School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide

Previous positions:

• 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

Course coordinator for Molecular Plant Breeding, which is part of the Postgraduate Certificate, Diploma and Masters programs in Plant Biotechnology.

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 85 articles and notes in refereed journals and 5 invited book chapters. She has released 4 cereal cultivars.

Selected recent publications:

• Appelbee, M.-J., Mekuria, G.T., Nagasandra, V., Bonneau, J.P., Eagles, H.A., Shepherd, K.W., Eastwood, R.F. and Mather, D.E. (2009) Novel allelic variants encoded at the Glu-D3 locus in bread wheat. Journal of Cereal Science 49:254-261.
• Sneller, C.H., Mather, D.E. and Crepieux, S. (2009) Analytical approaches and population types for finding and utilizing QTL in complex plant populations. Crop Science 49:363-380.
• Navabi, A., Mather, D.E., Bernier, J., Spaner, D.M. and Atlin, G.N. (2009) QTL detection with bidirectional and unidirectional selective genotyping: marker-based and trait-based analyses. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 118: 347-358.
• Walker, K.R., Able, J.A., Mather, D.E. and Able, A.J. (2008) Black point formation in barley: environmental influences and quantitative trait loci. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 59: 1021-1029.
• Huynh, B.-L., Wallwork, H., Stangoulis J.C.R., Graham, R.D., Willsmore, K.L., Olson, S. and Mather, D.E. (2008) Quantitative trait loci for grain fructan concentration in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Theoretical and Applied Genetics 117:701-709
• Huynh, B.-L., Palmer, L., Mather, D.E., Wallwork, H., Graham, R.D., Welch, R.M., Stangoulis, J.C. (2008) Genotypic variation in wheat grain fructan content revealed by a simplified HPLC method. Journal of Cereal Science 48:369-378
• Burton, R.A., Jobling, S.A., Harvey, A.J., Shirley, N.J., Mather, D.E., Bacic, A., Fincher, G.B. (2008) The genetics and transcriptional provides of the cellulose synthase-like HvCslF gene family in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Plant Physiology 146: 1821-1833.
• Panozzo, J.F., Eckermann P.J., Mather, D.E., Moody, D.B., Black, C.K., Collins, H.M., Barr, A.R., Lim, P. and Cullis, B.R. (2007) QTL analysis of malting quality traits in two barley populations. Australian Journal of Agricultural Science 58: 858-866.
• Liu, S., Tinker, N.A. and Mather, D.E. (2006). Exact word matches in rice pseudomolecules. Genome 49: 1047-1051
• Vales, M., Schoen, C., Capettinini, F., Chen, X., Corey, A., Mather, D., Mundt, C., Richardson, K., Sandoval-Islas, J., Utz, H. and Hayes, P. (2005) Effect of population size on the estimation of barley stripe rust QTL. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 111:1260-1270.

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 Scientific Advisory Board of the U.S. Barley Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP): Leveraging Genomics, Genetics and Breeding for Gene Discovery and Barley Improvement.

Entry last updated: Tuesday, 26 May 2009