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嘿嘿视频 researchers aid effort to sequence the complex wheat genome

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The bread wheat genome is especially complex because bread wheat originated from three ancient grass species.

Intent on developing wheat varieties with higher yields and enhanced nutritional content, researchers at the University of California, Davis, have teamed up with scientists at nine other institutions in an attempt to sequence the wheat genome.

Results from that endeavor, led by researchers at the U.K.-based Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, will be reported Nov. 29 in the journal Nature.

鈥淭his work moves us one step closer to a comprehensive and highly detailed genome sequence for bread wheat, which along with rice and maize is one of the three pillars on which the global food supply rests,鈥 said Jan Dvorak, professor of plant sciences at 嘿嘿视频 and a study co-author.

鈥淭he world鈥檚 population is projected to grow from 7 billion to 9 billion by 2050,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t is clear that, with no new farmable land available to bring into cultivation, we must develop higher-yielding varieties of these three cereals to meet the growing global demand for food.鈥

The bread wheat genome is especially complex because bread wheat originated from three ancient grass species. Its genome is, therefore, a composite of three genomes 鈥 and is five times the size of the human genome. 

Wheat geneticists have historically designated the genomes of those parent grasses as the A, B and D genomes, each containing a similar set of genes. As a result, most bread wheat genes exist in triplicate.

To aid the sequence assembly of bread wheat, Dvorak and the 嘿嘿视频 researchers have worked with scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture鈥檚 Agricultural Research Service and with scientists at two other U.S. institutions on sequencing of the genome of the parent species Aegilops tauschii 鈥 the source of the bread wheat D genome.

The U.S. team shared the Aegilops tauschii sequences with the British team, which was assembling all three of the wheat A, B and D genomes.

Comparing the Aegilops tauschii sequence with modern wheat allows researchers to assess genomic changes that have taken place in bread wheat since its origin approximately 8,000 years ago. 

In the study reported in Nature, the researchers used the whole genome 鈥渟hotgun sequencing鈥 approach, which generates billions of random genome sequence 鈥渞eads鈥 and then pieces them together. The results provide information about the DNA making up wheat genes that will help wheat breeders develop hardier varieties by linking genes to key traits, such as disease resistance and drought tolerance.

鈥淭his sequencing effort has yielded important information that will accelerate wheat genetics and breeding and help us better understand wheat evolution,鈥 Dvorak said. 鈥淚t cannot be overemphasized, however, that this is just one step in the global effort to produce a high-quality draft of the bread wheat genome sequence.鈥

He said completion of such a high-quality genome sequence for bread wheat is still a few years away and will require broad international collaboration to complete.

Other members of the 嘿嘿视频 team included Ming-Cheng Luo, Patrick E. McGuire and Frank M. You, all of the Department of Plant Sciences. The USDA team also included two 嘿嘿视频 research affiliates 鈥 Olin D. Anderson and Yong Gu 鈥 at the USDA Agricultural Research Service Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif.

The other collaborating institutions were Kansas State University; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York; University of Liverpool; University of Bristol; John Innes Centre; and European Bioinformatics Institute.

Funding for the study was provided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council of England, the USDA鈥檚 National Institute of Food and Agriculture, The Royal Society, the German Ministry of Education and Research, and the National Science Foundation.

Media Resources

Pat Bailey, Research news (emphasis: agricultural and nutritional sciences, and veterinary medicine), 530-219-9640, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu

Jan Dvorak, Plant Sciences, (530) 752-6549, jdvorak@ucdavis.edu

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