Feeding the world requires healthy crops that can resist plant disease. Barley is the world’s fourth largest cereal crop in terms of production. This important crop is at risk worldwide from the fungus, Ustilago hordei, which infects barley with a disease called covered smut. This fungal infection starts on the surface of barley seed and causes the kernels of the barley plant to be replaced by masses of brown spores.
Fan Yang’s research sought to identify a gene that can prevent barley yield loss from covered smut and thus improve economic returns to farmers.
“My research focused on identifying a resistance gene, called RuhQ, within the barley genome that provides long-term resistance to covered smut,” said Yang. “I investigated how the pathogen infects barley seedlings and reduces grain quality and yield. I also explored which defense pathways are activated by the RuhQ gene to help barley defend against covered smut.”
In July 2025, she successfully defended her PhD thesis, A study of RuhQ-mediated resistance to covered smut (Ustilago hordei) in barley. Yang was supervised by Dr. Aaron Beattie (PhD), associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources (AgBio). Yang will officially receive her PhD in Plant Sciences at USask Fall Convocation on November 12.