CRISPR-based editing of the ω- and γ-gliadin gene clusters reduces wheat immunoreactivity without affecting grain protein quality.

Wheat immunotoxicity is associated with abnormal reaction to gluten-derived peptides. Attempts to reduce immunotoxicity using breeding and biotechnology often affect dough quality. Here, the multiplexed CRISPR-Cas9 editing of cultivar Fielder was used to modify gluten-encoding genes, specifically focusing on ω- and γ-gliadin gene copies, which were identified to be abundant in immunoreactive peptides based on the analysis of wheat genomes assembled using the long-read sequencing technologies.

Sequencing 4.3 million mutations in wheat promoters to understand and modify gene expression.

Wheat is an important contributor to global food security, and further improvements are required to feed a growing human population. Functional genetics and genomics tools can help us to understand the function of different genes and to engineer beneficial changes. In this study, we used a promoter capture assay to sequence 2-kb regions upstream of all high-confidence annotated genes from 1,513 mutagenized plants from the tetraploid wheat variety Kronos.

Population genomics of Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici highlights the role of admixture in the origin of virulent wheat rust races.

Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici (Pgt) causes stem rust disease in wheat that can result in severe yield losses.

Multiplexed promoter and gene editing in wheat using a virus-based guide RNA delivery system.

The low efficiency of genetic transformation and gene editing across diverse cultivars hinder the broad application of CRISPR technology for crop improvement. The development of virus-based methods of CRISPR-Cas system delivery into the plant cells holds great promise to overcome these limitations. Here, we perform direct inoculation of wheat leaves with the barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) transcripts to deliver guide RNAs (sgRNA) into the Cas9-expressing wheat.

The evolutionary patterns of barley pericentromeric chromosome regions, as shaped by linkage disequilibrium and domestication.

The distribution of recombination events along large cereal chromosomes is uneven and is generally restricted to gene-rich telomeric ends. To understand how the lack of recombination affects diversity in the large pericentromeric regions, we analysed deep exome capture data from a final panel of 815 Hordeum vulgare (barley) cultivars, landraces and wild barleys, sampled from across their eco-geographical ranges. We defined and compared variant data across the pericentromeric and non-pericentromeric regions, observing a clear partitioning of diversity both within and between chromosomes and germplasm groups.