Wheat Genetics

Wheat is immensely valued as a staple crop and commodity throughout the world, accounting for over 20% of all protein and calories worldwide while contributing an estimated $30 billion boost to the US economy. Wheat production faces the combined challenges of increasingly variable and unfavorable climates, including new disease and insect pest pressures. In this context, new climate resilient varieties with a broadened genetic base must be developed. As a raw ingredient to the success of new wheat varieties, novel genetic diversity from wild relatives is needed to improve performance and resilience to stress. The Wheat Genetics Resource Center (WGRC) Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) at Kansas State University has the primary focus of effectively and efficiently mining these genetic resources and accelerating delivery of improved diverse germplasm to industry partners with cross-cutting training of the next generation of wheat industry scientists. The delivery of novel genetic resources and high-caliber scientists to industry partners is the ground work for future advancements and success in the wheat industry. The resulting improvement of yield potential and nutritional quality in wheat contributes toward resilience of the agriculture sector and the accessibility of affordable and nutritious wheat-based foods to society.<br/><br/>The complex wheat genome, more than five times larger than the human genome, and the narrow genetic base of bread wheat, present formable challenges in breeding and to address problems facing the wheat industry. Managing wheat genetic diversity to improve crop performance and training of new scientists are major functions of the WGRC IUCRC-and are critical success factors for the wheat research enterprise. The center is advancing full genetic characterization and curation of thousands of accessions of wheat wild relatives across all genomes and ploidy levels while leveraging this information to develop improved germplasm for delivery to industry partners. With targeted understanding of the genetic diversity, accessing and delivering novel alleles in improved germplasm through allele mining can be greatly expedited. Technical innovations for efficiently accessing and transferring genes and chromosomes from wild relatives will allow rapid transfer of useful traits to elite germplasm through targeted chromosome engineering, increased recombination, marker assisted breeding and genomic prediction. Through collaborative industry testing networks, the center delivers improved germplasm including chromosome introgression stocks and diverse populations with 1) abiotic stress tolerance, 2) resistance to disease and insects, 3) yield potential and stability and 4) end-use nutrition and grain quality.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.