• International consortium with public and private institutions originated the study that will help develop solutions to manage the disease • In Brazil, Embrapa and Bayer will continue the partnership that will keep seeking new technologies for tropical agriculture For the first time, an international consortium in which Bayer and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) are part, led to the sequencing and assembly of of the fungus that causes Asian rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi), the main disease that attacks Brazilian soybean crops. The consortium is formed by 12 public and private institutions from several locations, and aims at giving access to the genome of the rust-causing genome for different approaches and future research. “We are proud of the achievement obtained through an international public-private and multi-institutional partnership, which places Brazil at the forefront of scientific knowledge", celebrates the head of Embrapa Soybeans, José Renato Bouças Farias. "Nevertheless, this is the beginning of a new process that will require new research increments for the development of tools to apply to Asian rust management", Bouças Farias underscores. The consortium's success was due to the cooperative effort and expertise of the many participants, in addition to the sequencing technologies currently available. As a result, the assembly of three genomes of reference was made available, which provides high data reliability and the immediate possibility of comparative studies at genomic level. One of the isolates that were sequenced was supplied by Bayer, which obtained it from a Brazilian sample collected in Minas Gerais state in 2006. "This is a hallmark in agriculture. With the mapped genome, we can look back and understand why so many mutations have happened and prepare in anticipation of new variations of the fungus possible. This is science working for agriculture", states Rogério Bortolan, Bayer's leader of Agronomic Solutions for Soybeans and Cotton in Latin America. Embrapa has also participated by supplying DNA samples of another 44 isolates for resequencing analyses, which are taking place at the Joint Genome Institute (JGI/EUA). Such isolates are also part of a collection at Embrapa Soybeans, and have been obtained from different harvests in Brazil, since 2003, but there are also fungus samples from other continents made available by different research institutions. “The access to such variability will broaden the understanding of the fungus' adaptability, evolution, the mutations that took place in different harvests and the process of fungal resistance to fungicides and to resistance genes present in soybeans”, reiterates Francismar C. Marcelino-Guimarães, an Embrapa Soybeans researcher. The research results will allow a better understanding of the fungus' action targets at DNA level, through a chemical product, as well as the development of new solutions that work more aggressively. It will be likewise possible to explore such knowledge to identify fungus genes that are important for pathogenicity and thus improve breeding techniques to develop cultivars with longer resistance. The discovery can bring forth from agrochemicals to soybean cultivars, or even a combination of more effective recommendations. “Bayer is the leader in the fungicide market in Brazil and is interested in sustainably maintaining such leadership. The greatest benefitiary will be farmers, but also society as a whole, through the research and development of new products that will contribute to food security", Bortolan posits. Asian rust in Brazil - According to data from the Antirust Consortium, the damage caused by Asian rust represents US$2.8 bi per crop year, which could result in up 80% losses in a plantation. Once identified in Brazil in 2001, the fungus causing Asian rust was the target of research by academic labs and private companies to better understand its biology and find new means of controlling the disease. For the Embrapa researcher, a limiting factor was the lack of information about the fungus' genome, as previous attempts at sequencing and assembling its genome failed due to its size and complexity, on top of the lack of last-generation sequencing technologies. Despite P. pachyrhizi's genome's large size and complexity (estimated at 1.057 Mbp), the number of genes (around 20,700) is similar to those of other rust-causing fungi. In addition to sequencing and assembling the genome, the international consortium was able to predict possible genes and associate them with biological functions. "With the Asian rust genome available, there should be more elements to decipher the fungus' biology and understand, at a molecular level, its complex interaction with soubeans and other hosts. It will also broaden the understanding of P. pachyrhizi’s adaptability, evolution, and genetic diversity, thus paving the way to knowledge-based strategies for Asian soybean rust control”, Francismar explains. About the consortium With the aim of developing solutions for Asian rust management, the international consortium comprises 12 public and private entities. Besides Bayer and Embrapa, the consortium includes partners like the 2Blades Foundation, the Sainsbury Laboratory, the German Universities of Hohenheim and RWTH Aachen, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and the University of Lorraine (France), as well as the Joint Genome Institute (JGI, USA), Keygene, Syngenta and the Federal University of Viçosa (Brazil). About Bayer Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to benefit people by supporting efforts to overcome the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development, and the Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2018, the Group employed around 117,000 people and had sales of 39.6 billion euros. Capital expenditures amounted to 2.6 billion euros, R&D expenses to 5.2 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com. About Embrapa The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) was created on April 26, 1973 and is linked to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Map). Since its inception, it has taken on a challenge: to develop, together with our partners in the National Agricultural Research System (SNPA), a model of genuinely Brazilian tropical agriculture and livestock, overcoming barriers that limit food, fiber and energy production in the country. This effort helped transform Brazil. Today Brazilian agriculture is one of the most efficient and sustainable in the world. We incorporated a large area of degraded land from the cerrado to the productive systems. A region that today accounts for almost 50% of our grain production. We quadrupled the supply of beef and pork and expanded the supply of chicken by 22 times. These are some of the achievements that have made the country from being a staple food importer to being one of the world's largest producers and exporters. Embrapa's mission is to enable research, development and innovation solutions for the sustainability of agriculture, for the benefit of Brazilian society. Bayer press information JeffreyGroup agrobayer@jeffreygroup.com Eloisa Rangel – erangel@jeffreygroup.com Telefone: +55 11 3185-0902 Crop Science Bayer Brasil - Communications Renan Magalhães – renan.santos@bayer.com Telefone: +55 11 5694-8020 Embrapa press information Carina Rufino and Lebna Landgraf Telefone: +55 43 3371-6061/6078 +55 43 99993 6967 soja.imprensa@embrapa.br