James Tucker

Image James Tucker
Research Scientist, Barley Genomics

Identification and development of biotic stress-tolerant barley breeding materials through application of biotechnological tools with emphasis on diseases of economic importance such as: Fusarium head blight, spot blotch, net blotch, scald and stem rust.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Brandon

Current research and/or projects

  • Developing barley germplasm with improved resistance to Fusarium head blight and other biotic stresses for western Canada at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Brandon Research and Development Centre (lead)
  • The population structure of Fusarium pathogens of small grain cereals, their distribution and relationship to mycotoxins (team member).
  • Barley pathogen variation and surveillance: implications for managing disease via host resistance and fungicides (team member).
  • Phenotyping barley breeding lines and germplasm for disease resistance (team member).
  • Breeding malting and food barley cultivars for western Canada at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Brandon Research and Development Centre assisted by new technologies (team member).
  • Breeding barley for high yield and resistance to Fusarium head blight for Eastern Canada (team member).
  • FHB screening of CDC barley breeding selections (lead).

Professional activities / interests

  • Plant Breeding
  • Barley Genomics
  • Plant Pathology
  • Molecular Biology

Education and awards

Education

  • Ph.D. candidate, Plant Science, University of Manitoba
  • M.Sc. Biology (Quantitative Genetics), Concordia University, Montreal, 1998
  • B.Sc. Chemistry/ Biology, University of Winnipeg, 1994

 

Awards

  • W.O.S. Meredith Fellowship for Barley Research, University of Manitoba, 2016
  • Seed of the Year Scholarship-West, University of Manitoba, 2017
  • 34th Annual Plant Sciences Graduate Student Symposium – Pathology Section - Bronze Prize, 2018

  • Food Systems and Sustainability Symposium – Food Systems Research Group Graduate Student Symposium – Bronze Prize, 2018

Key publications

  1. You FM, Xu W, Tucker JR, Khanal R, Beattie A, Brar G, Fu Y-B, Zheng C, Malti S, Shah K, Liton U, Holden S, Yao Z, Singh J, Boyle B, Belzile F, Mascher M, Tinker N, Bekele W, and Badea A. Reference-level genome assemblies and comparative analysis of five representative Canadian barley cultivars. 2024 Barley Symposium – From the Ground Up. February 26-27, Saskatoon, Canada (Oral talk)

    2024 - View publication details

  2. Elizabeth Brauer, Doris Luckert, Stephanie Poncos, Hannah Morrison, Whynn Bosnich, Melodie Laniel, Martin Charette, Andrew Burt, James Tucker, Raja Khanal, Bahram Samanfar: Bacterial detection and induced immune responses in barley. Canadian Society of Plant Biologists(CSPB), 2023, Quebec City, Canada.

    2023 - View publication details

  3. V. Weerasinghe, J.R. Tucker, A. Badea, W.G. D. Fernando, C. Wijekoon (2023 Jan 19-20) Effect of bacterial endophytes in mycotoxin production of barley. Rapid fire symposium at CCARM. Winnipeg (In person)- Oral presentation

    2023 - View publication details

  4. Agricultural Innovations (Volume V) https://collab.agr.gc.ca/br-dg/stb-dgst/Documents/Annual%20Publications/Agricultural%20Innovations%20Vol%20V.pdf

    2022 - View publication details

  5. V. Weerasinghe, J.R. Tucker, A. Badea, W.G. D. Fernando, C. Wijekoon (2022 Dec 7) Meta-sequencing of bacterial endophytes in clean and FHB-infected barley seeds. Canadian Phytopathological Society (CPS) Manitoba regional meeting. Winnipeg.

    2022 - View publication details

  6. Survey of fungal endophyte microbiome diversity of barley genotypes grown in western Canada - oral presentation

    2022 - View publication details

  7. Survey of fungal endophyte microbiome diversity of barley genotypes grown in western Canada.

    2022 - View publication details

  8. AAC Prairie: a new two-row malting barley for the mainstream brewing industry - abstract

    2022 - View publication details

  9. AAC Prairie: a new two-row malting barley for the mainstream brewing industry - poster

    2022 - View publication details

  10. M.N. Islam, M. Banik, S. Sura, J. Tucker and X. Wang. Implications of crop rotation and fungicide on the Fusarium and mycotoxin spectra in Manitoba barley 2017-2019. 2022 annual meeting of Canadian phytopathological society (virtual), July 4-8, 2022.

    2022 - View publication details

  11. C. Wijekoon, A. Sabra, J. R. Tucker, A. Badea. (2022 July 4-8) Comparative analysis of phenolic compounds of Canadian barley reveals potential biomarkers related to Fusarium head blight resistance. CPS conference (virtual).

    2022 - View publication details

  12. Xu, W., Tucker, J.R., Bekele, W.A., You, F.M., Fu, Y.B., Khanal, R., Yao, Z., Singh, J., Boyle, B., Beattie, A.D., Belzile, F., Mascher, M., Tinker, N.A., Badea, A. (2021). Genome assembly of the canadian two-row malting barley cultivar AAC synergy. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, [online] 11(4), http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkab031

    2021 - View publication details

  13. Proceedings of the 2020 National Fusarium Head Blight Forum

    2021 - View publication details

  14. Proceedings of the 2020 National Fusarium Head Blight Forum

    2021 - View publication details

  15. Proceedings of the 2020 National Fusarium Head Blight Forum

    2021 - View publication details

  16. UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT - INDUSTRY REACTS TO REVISED FUSARIUM REGULATORY REGIME
    https://grainswest.com/2020/11/under-new-management/

    2020 - View publication details

  17. Borrego-Benjumea, A., Carter, A., Tucker, J.R., Yao, Z., Xu, W., Badea, A. (2020). Genome-wide analysis of gene expression provides new insights into waterlogging responses in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Plants, [online] 9(2), http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants9020240

    2020 - View publication details

  18. Legge, W.G., Badea, A., Tucker, J.R., Fetch, T.G., Banik, M., Haber, S., Menzies, J.G., Tekauz, A., Turkington, T.K., Martin, R.A., Choo, T.M., Blackwell, B.A., Savard, M.E. (2018). AAC goldman barley. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, [online] 98(5), 1203-1211. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2017-0361

    2018 - View publication details

  19. Legge, W.G., Badea, A., Tucker, J.R., Fetch, T.G., Haber, S., Menzies, J.G., Tekauz, A., Turkington, T.K., Martin, R.A., Choo, T.M., Blackwell, B.A., Savard, M.E. (2017). AAC connect barley. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, [online] 97(3), 539-548. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2016-0312

    2017 - View publication details

  20. Akhavan, A., Strelkov, S.E., Kher, S.V., Askarian, H., Tucker, J.R., Legge, W.G., Tekauz, A., Turkington, T.K. (2017). Resistance to Pyrenophora teres f. Teres and P. teres f. maculata in Canadian barley genotypes. Crop Science, [online] 57(1), 151-160. http://dx.doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2016.05.0385

    2017 - View publication details

Contact

Research facility

Brandon Research and Development Centre
2701 Grand Valley Road, P.O. Box 1000A
Brandon, MB R7A 5Y3
Canada

Expertise

Agriculture›Breeding›Barley
Agriculture›Genomics›Barley
Agriculture›Pathology›Phytopathology

Affiliations

  • Member of the Canadian Phytopathological Society
  • Member of the Prairie Recommending Committee for Oat and Barley. 
  • Chair of Disease Evaluation Team, Prairie Recommending Committee for Oat and Barley

Language

English