Allelic response of yield component traits to resource availability in spring wheat.

Investigation of resource availability on allele effects for four yield component quantitative trait loci provides guidance for the improvement of grain yield in high and low yielding environments. A greater understanding of grain yield (GY) and yield component traits in spring wheat may increase selection efficiency for improved GY in high and low yielding environments. The objective of this study was to determine allelic response of four yield component quantitative trait loci (QTL) to variable resource levels which were manipulated by varying intraspecific plant competition and seeding density.

Analysis of recombinant inbred line populations derived from wheat landraces to identify new genes for wheat stem sawfly resistance.

Wheat landrace accessions were chosen from areas of the world with historical European wheat stem sawfly (Cephus pygmaeus L.) selection pressure to develop six recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations. Molecular maps were constructed, and resistance due to antibiosis and antixenosis was assessed at sites in Montana naturally infested by Cephus cinctus Norton, the wheat stem sawfly (WSS).

Large-scale proteome investigation in wild relatives (A, B, and D genomes) of wheat.

Large-scale proteomics of three wild relatives of wheat grain (A, B, and D genomes) were analyzed by using multidimensional protein identification technology coupled to liquid chromatography quadruple mass spectrometry. A total of 1568 (peptide match ≥1) and 255 (peptide match ≥2) unique proteins were detected and classified, which represents the most wide-ranging proteomic exploitation to date. The development of standard proteomes exhibiting all of the proteins involved in normal physiology will facilitate the delineation of disease/defense, metabolism, energy metabolism, and protein synthesis.

Structural and expressional divergence of genes encoding O-methyltransferase in wheat.

Enzymatic methylation, which is catalyzed by the large number of O-methyltransferases (OMTs), is one of the important reactions in the flow of primary and (or) secondary metabolism. In a previous study, the gene TaOMT1 was induced by Hessian fly infestation of a wheat-rye translocation line. In this study we considered other wheat OMT genes - TaOMT3, TaOMT4, and TaOMT5 - using a bioinformatics approach and examined the TaOMT genes for their genomic organization, tissue-specific expression, responses to abiotic stresses and hormones, and cis-elements.