J Plant Physiol
December 2024
We previously reported a structural rearrangement between wheat (Triticum aestivum) and rye (Secale cereale) chromosomes 1BS/1RS that increased the dosage of 12-OXOPHYTODIENOATE REDUCTASE III (OPRIII) genes involved in jasmonate biosynthesis (henceforth, 1RW line), and that drastically reduced primary root growth relative to a control line with the intact 1RS chromosome (henceforth, 1RS). In this study, we show that the increased gene-dosage of this region is associated with increases in the shoot-root partitioning of magnesium (Mg). Moreover, both a CRISPR-edited 1RW line with reduced OPRIII dosage and the 1RW line treated with the jasmonate biosynthesis inhibitor ibuprofen showed reduced differences in shoot-root Mg partitioning than 1RW.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn wheat, the transition of the inflorescence meristem to a terminal spikelet (IM→TS) determines the spikelet number per spike (SNS), an important yield component. In this study, we demonstrate that the plant-specific transcription factor LEAFY (LFY) physically and genetically interacts with WHEAT ORTHOLOG OF APO1 (WAPO1) to regulate SNS and floret development. Loss-of-function mutations in either or both genes result in significant and similar reductions in SNS, as a result of a reduction in the rate of spikelet meristem formation per day.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrecise regulation of flowering time is critical for cereal crops to synchronize reproductive development with optimum environmental conditions, thereby maximizing grain yield. The plant-specific gene GIGANTEA (GI) plays an important role in the control of flowering time, with additional functions on the circadian clock and plant stress responses. In this study, we show that GI loss-of-function mutants in a photoperiod-sensitive tetraploid wheat background exhibit significant delays in heading time under both long-day (LD) and short-day photoperiods, with stronger effects under LD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMost rust resistance genes thus far isolated from wheat have a very limited number of functional alleles. Here, we report the isolation of most of the alleles at wheat stem rust resistance gene locus SR9. The seven previously reported resistance alleles (Sr9a, Sr9b, Sr9d, Sr9e, Sr9f, Sr9g, and Sr9h) are characterised using a synergistic strategy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLeaf rust, caused by Puccinia triticina Eriksson (Pt), is one of the most severe foliar diseases of wheat. Breeding for leaf rust resistance is a practical and sustainable method to control this devastating disease. Here, we report the identification of Lr47, a broadly effective leaf rust resistance gene introgressed into wheat from Aegilops speltoides.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
September 2023
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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The genetic information contained in the genome of an organism is organized in genes and regulatory elements that control gene expression. The genomes of multiple plants species have already been sequenced and the gene repertory have been annotated, however, cis-regulatory elements remain less characterized, limiting our understanding of genome functionality. These elements act as open platforms for recruiting both positive- and negative-acting transcription factors, and as such, chromatin accessibility is an important signature for their identification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant height is an important agronomic trait with a significant impact on grain yield, as demonstrated by the positive effect of the () dwarfing alleles () on lodging and harvest index in the "Green Revolution" wheat varieties. However, these gibberellic acid (GA)-insensitive alleles also reduce coleoptile length, biomass production, and yield potential in some environments, triggering the search for alternative GA-sensitive dwarfing genes. Here we report the identification, validation, and characterization of the gene underlying the GA-sensitive dwarfing locus in wheat.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe diploid wheat recessive stem rust resistance gene SrTm4 was fine-mapped to a 754-kb region on chromosome arm 2AL and potential candidate genes were identified. Race Ug99 of Puccinia graminis f. sp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWheat, an essential crop for global food security, is well adapted to a wide variety of soils. However, the gene networks shaping different root architectures remain poorly understood. We report here that dosage differences in a cluster of monocot-specific 12-OXOPHYTODIENOATE REDUCTASE genes from subfamily III (OPRIII) modulate key differences in wheat root architecture, which are associated with grain yield under water-limited conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFunctional redundancy and subfunctionalization of β-hydroxylases in tetraploid wheat tissues open up opportunities for manipulation of carotenoid metabolism for trait improvement. The genetic diversity provided by subgenome homoeologs in allopolyploid wheat can be leveraged for developing improved wheat varieties with modified chemical traits, including profiles of carotenoids, which play critical roles in photosynthesis, photoprotection, and growth regulation. Carotenoid profiles are greatly influenced by hydroxylation catalyzed by β-hydroxylases (HYDs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAgriculture is experiencing a technological inflection point in its history, while also facing unprecedented challenges posed by human population growth and global climate changes. Key advancements in precise genome editing and new methods for rapid generation of bioengineered crops promise to both revolutionize the speed and breadth of breeding programmes and increase our ability to feed and sustain human population growth. Although genome editing enables targeted and specific modifications of DNA sequences, several existing barriers prevent the widespread adoption of editing technologies for basic and applied research in established and emerging crop species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs genome resources for wheat (Triticum L.) expand at a rapid pace, it is important to update targeted sequencing tools to incorporate improved sequence assemblies and regions of previously unknown significance. Here, we developed an updated regulatory region enrichment capture for wheat and other Triticeae species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn order to maintain global food security, it will be necessary to increase yields of the cereal crops that provide most of the calories and protein for the world's population, which includes common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). An important wheat yield component is the number of grain-holding spikelets which form on the spike during inflorescence development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWheat stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is responsible for significant yield losses worldwide, which can be minimized by the deployment of Pst resistance genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlants possess regulatory mechanisms that allow them to flower under conditions that maximize reproductive success. Selection of natural variants affecting those mechanisms has been critical in agriculture to modulate the flowering response of crops to specific environments and to increase yield. In the temperate cereals, wheat and barley, the photoperiod and vernalization pathways explain most of the natural variation in flowering time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAllopolyploidy greatly expands the range of possible regulatory interactions among functionally redundant homoeologous genes. However, connection between the emerging regulatory complexity and expression and phenotypic diversity in polyploid crops remains elusive. Here, we use diverse wheat accessions to map expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) and evaluate their effects on the population-scale variation in homoeolog expression dosage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImproving our understanding of the genes regulating grain yield can contribute to the development of more productive wheat varieties. Previously, a highly significant QTL affecting spikelet number per spike (SNS), grain number per spike (GNS) and grain yield was detected on chromosome arm 7AL in multiple genome-wide association studies. Using a high-resolution genetic map, we established that the A-genome homeolog of WHEAT ORTHOLOG OF APO1 (WAPO-A1) was a leading candidate gene for this QTL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe discovered a natural FT-A2 allele that increases grain number per spike in both pasta and bread wheat with limited effect on heading time. Increases in wheat grain yield are necessary to meet future global food demands. A previous study showed that loss-of-function mutations in FLOWERING LOCUS T2 (FT2) increase spikelet number per spike (SNS), an important grain yield component.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo improve the efficiency of high-density genotype data storage and imputation in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), we applied the Practical Haplotype Graph (PHG) tool. The Wheat PHG database was built using whole-exome capture sequencing data from a diverse set of 65 wheat accessions.
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