Dr Lesley Boyd

Research interests

Lesley Boyd is a senior cereal pathologist based at Niab's Park Farm site. She leads research programmes investigating the genetics and biology of cereal-pathogen interactions, including ergot, yellow (stripe), leaf (brown) and stem (black) rust of cereals. Lesley undertakes classical genetics studies, including genetic mapping and genome wide association screens (GWAS), to identify and define resistance to all four fungal pathogens in wheat. Functional studies to determine mechanisms of resistance include whole genome transcriptomics analyses, histopathology, and bio-chemical communication in wheat.

Lesley started her research career at the John Innes Centre (JIC), Norwich in 1990, before moving her research programme to Niab in 2012. In 2011 Lesley was awarded the Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum Mentor Award in recognition of her contribution to training and mentoring of female scientists in the area of cereal research.

Research Programmes

Ergot in cereals

The cereal ergot programme addresses multiple aspects of the genetics and biology of the interaction between Claviceps purpurea and cereals (primarily wheat), and the transfer of ergot alkaloids onto healthy grain, both in-planta and via physical contact with ergot sclerotia. Our aim is to identify intervention points in the pathogen’s lifecycle where we can control ergot infection on farm and eliminate ergot alkaloids from the cereal food chain. We are undertaking research to determine how ergot alkaloids are transported within the cereal ear, away from ergot infected florets, onto healthy seed developing in uninfected florets on the same ear.

Dr Boyd is currently a member of the UK Ergot Working Group, chaired by the UK Flour Millers Association.

Ergot Control On-Farm: Developing strategies for the control of ergot on-farm. Duration: January 2026-December 2029. Funder: TMAF PhD. Student Daisy Garratt.

Ergot Alkaloids: Determining the routes of transmission of ergot alkaloids in cereal grains. AHDB Project Report 603 (2019). Duration: January 2018-December 2018. Funder: AHDB.

Cereal Rusts:

The cereal rust programme of Dr Boyd focuses primarily on partial, adult-plant expressed sources of resistance in wheat. A recently completed project: Yellowhammer, characterised multiple sources of yellow rust resistance in over 400 UK and Northern European winter wheat genotypes. 

In addition to working with UK Wheat Breeders to identify and characterise yellow rust resistance, Boyd is working with engineers at Manchester University to develop and commercialise an in-field detection system for yellow rust (as well as other crop diseases) that alters farmers to the presence of viable fungal spores in real-time, allowing optimisation of fungicide control programmes. 

Sentinel: The Sentinel crop disease surveillance network. Duration: November 2022-October 2025: Partners: Manchester Uni.; Rothamsted Research; One-Nine Design; BASF; G’s Fresh. Funder: Defra/IUK.

Yellowhammer: A multi-locus strategy for durable yellow rust resistance in wheat, in the face of a rapidly changing pathogen landscape. Duration: October 2018-September 2022. Partners: Niab (lead); UK Wheat breeders. Funder: BBSRC LINK (BB/R019231/1)

RustWatch: European Union project from 2017 to 2022 involving 24 partner organisations.

ToropiAPR: Uncovering the genetic and functional basis of the unique leaf rust resistance in the Brazilian wheat variety Toropi; Duration: August 2013 – December 2019; Partners: NIAB (lead); AAFC, Morden, Canada; Embrapa, Brazil; UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Funder: Bilateral BBSRC-Embrapa (BB/N01622X/1); BBSRC-pump-priming award (BB/N004477/1); BBSRC International Partnering Award (BB/K021435/1). Current:Exploring new sources of multiple disease resistance in spring wheat for germplasm development. Duration July 2025-June 2027. Partners: Cerom, Quebec and AAFC, Morden, Manitoba, Canada. Funder: Genomics Integration Program, Génome Québec.

Publications

Full publication list on Google Scholar