The putative vacuolar processing enzyme gene TaVPE3cB is a candidate gene for wheat stem pith-thickness.

The vacuolar processing enzyme gene TaVPE3cB is identified as a candidate gene for a QTL of wheat pith-thickness on chromosome 3B by BSR-seq and differential expression analyses. The high pith-thickness (PT) of the wheat stem could greatly enhance stem mechanical strength, especially the basal internodes which support the heavier upper part, such as upper stems, leaves and spikes. A QTL for PT in wheat was previously discovered on 3BL in a double haploid population of 'Westonia' × 'Kauz'.

Yield-Related QTL Clusters and the Potential Candidate Genes in Two Wheat DH Populations.

In the present study, four large-scale field trials using two doubled haploid wheat populations were conducted in different environments for two years. Grain protein content (GPC) and 21 other yield-related traits were investigated. A total of 227 QTL were mapped on 18 chromosomes, which formed 35 QTL clusters.

Impact and mechanism of sulphur-deficiency on modern wheat farming nitrogen-related sustainability and gliadin content.

Two challenges that the global wheat industry is facing are a lowering nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) and an increase in the reporting of wheat-protein related health issues. Sulphur deficiencies in soil has also been reported as a global issue. The current study used large-scale field and glasshouse experiments to investigate the sulphur fertilization impacts on sulphur deficient soil.

Application of CRISPR/Cas9 in Crop Quality Improvement.

The various crop species are major agricultural products and play an indispensable role in sustaining human life. Over a long period, breeders strove to increase crop yield and improve quality through traditional breeding strategies. Today, many breeders have achieved remarkable results using modern molecular technologies.

Genetic regulation of the traits contributing to wheat nitrogen use efficiency.

High nitrogen application aimed at increasing crop yield is offset by higher production costs and negative environmental consequences. For wheat, only one third of the applied nitrogen is utilized, which indicates there is scope for increasing Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE). However, achieving greater NUE is challenged by the complexity of the trait, which comprises processes associated with nitrogen uptake, transport, reduction, assimilation, translocation and remobilization.

Transcriptomic Study for Identification of Major Nitrogen Stress Responsive Genes in Australian Bread Wheat Cultivars.

High nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in bread wheat is pivotal to sustain high productivity. Knowledge about the physiological and transcriptomic changes that regulate NUE, in particular how plants cope with nitrogen (N) stress during flowering and the grain filling period, is crucial in achieving high NUE. Nitrogen response is differentially manifested in different tissues and shows significant genetic variability.

Current Progress in Understanding and Recovering the Wheat Genes Lost in Evolution and Domestication.

The modern cultivated wheat has passed a long evolution involving origin of wild emmer (WEM), development of cultivated emmer, formation of spelt wheat and finally establishment of modern bread wheat and durum wheat. During this evolutionary process, rapid alterations and sporadic changes in wheat genome took place, due to hybridization, polyploidization, domestication, and mutation. This has resulted in some modifications and a high level of gene loss.

Cloning and molecular characterization of Triticum aestivum ornithine amino transferase (TaOAT) encoding genes.

Background: Ornithine aminotransferase (OAT, EC:2.6.1.

New insights into the evolution of wheat avenin-like proteins in wild emmer wheat ().

Fifteen full-length wheat grain avenin-like protein coding genes () were identified on chromosome arms 7AS, 4AL, and 7DS of bread wheat with each containing five genes. Besides the a- and b-type ALPs, a c type was identified in the current paper. Both a and b types have two subunits, named x and y types.

Biological Roles of Ornithine Aminotransferase (OAT) in Plant Stress Tolerance: Present Progress and Future Perspectives.

Plant tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses is complicated by interactions between different stresses. Maintaining crop yield under abiotic stresses is the most daunting challenge for breeding resilient crop varieties. In response to environmental stresses, plants produce several metabolites, such as proline (Pro), polyamines (PAs), asparagine, serine, carbohydrates including glucose and fructose, and pools of antioxidant reactive oxygen species.

NAM gene allelic composition and its relation to grain-filling duration and nitrogen utilisation efficiency of Australian wheat.

Optimising nitrogen fertiliser management in combination with using high nitrogen efficient wheat cultivars is the most effective strategy to maximise productivity in a cost-efficient manner. The present study was designed to investigate the associations between nitrogen utilisation efficiency (NUtE) and the allelic composition of the NAM genes in Australian wheat cultivars. As results, the non-functional NAM-B1 allele was more responsive to the nitrogen levels and increased NUtE significantly, leading to a higher grain yield but reduced grain protein content.

Wheat grain protein accumulation and polymerization mechanisms driven by nitrogen fertilization.

In wheat (Triticum aestivum) grain yield and grain protein content are negatively correlated, making the simultaneous increase of the two traits challenging. Apart from genetic approaches, modification of nitrogen fertilization offers a feasible option to achieve this aim. In this study, a range of traits related to nitrogen-use efficiency in six Australian bread wheat varieties were investigated under different nitrogen treatments using 3-year multisite field trials.

Comprehensive molecular analysis of arginase-encoding genes in common wheat and its progenitor species.

Arginase (ARG) contributes to nitrogen remobilization by conversion of arginine to ornithine and urea. However, wheat ARG genes have not yet been identified. Here we isolated and characterized ARG genes from wheat and its progenitor species and found that a single copy was present in wheat progenitors.

Dt2 is a gain-of-function MADS-domain factor gene that specifies semideterminacy in soybean.

Similar to Arabidopsis thaliana, the wild soybeans (Glycine soja) and many cultivars exhibit indeterminate stem growth specified by the shoot identity gene Dt1, the functional counterpart of Arabidopsis TERMINAL FLOWER1 (TFL1). Mutations in TFL1 and Dt1 both result in the shoot apical meristem (SAM) switching from vegetative to reproductive state to initiate terminal flowering and thus produce determinate stems. A second soybean gene (Dt2) regulating stem growth was identified, which, in the presence of Dt1, produces semideterminate plants with terminal racemes similar to those observed in determinate plants.

Genome-wide characterization of nonreference transposons reveals evolutionary propensities of transposons in soybean.

Preferential accumulation of transposable elements (TEs), particularly long terminal repeat retrotransposons (LTR-RTs), in recombination-suppressed pericentromeric regions seems to be a general pattern of TE distribution in flowering plants. However, whether such a pattern was formed primarily by preferential TE insertions into pericentromeric regions or by selection against TE insertions into euchromatin remains obscure. We recently investigated TE insertions in 31 resequenced wild and cultivated soybean (Glycine max) genomes and detected 34,154 unique nonreference TE insertions mappable to the reference genome.

Combinational transformation of three wheat genes encoding fructan biosynthesis enzymes confers increased fructan content and tolerance to abiotic stresses in tobacco.

Seven kinds of transgenic tobacco plants transformed with combinations of three FBE genes were obtained. The transgenic plants transformed with Ta1-SST + Ta6-SFT genes appeared to have the highest fructan or soluble sugar content and the strongest salt tolerance. Fructan is thought to be one of the important regulators involved in plant tolerance to various abiotic stresses.

Efficient regeneration potential is closely related to auxin exposure time and catalase metabolism during the somatic embryogenesis of immature embryos in Triticum aestivum L.

Regeneration of cultured tissue is a prerequisite of Agrobacterium- and biolistic-mediated plant transformation. In this study, an efficient protocol for improving wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) immature embryo regeneration was developed.

Gene networks in the synthesis and deposition of protein polymers during grain development of wheat.

As the amino acid storing organelle, the protein bodies provide nutrients for embryo development, seed germination and early seedling growth through storage proteolysis in cereal plants, such as wheat and rice. In protein bodies, the monomeric and polymeric prolamins, i.e.