Discovery Raises Hopes of More Temperature Tolerant Wheat

Jan 09, 2024

Gene-editing techniques have helped to identify a temperature tolerance factor that may protect wheat from the increasingly unpredictable challenges of climate change.

Researchers in the group of Professor Graham Moore at the John Innes Center made the discovery during experiments looking at wheat fertility in plants exposed to either high or low temperatures. The paper, "DMC1 stabilizes crossovers at high and low temperatures during wheat meiosis," appears in Frontiers in Plant Science.

Wheat fertility and therefore yield is highly influenced by temperature, particularly the initial stages of meiosis when chromosomes from parent cells cross over and pair to create seeds for the next generation.

Meiosis in wheat functions most efficiently at temperatures between 17–23° centigrade. It is known that developing wheat does not cope well with hot temperatures and can also fail during low summer temperatures.

Identifying genetic factors that help stabilize wheat fertility outside optimal temperatures is critical if we are to breed climate resilient crops of the future.

Previous research has indicated a major meiotic gene DMC1 as the likely candidate for preserving wheat meiosis during low and high temperatures.

This research follows the earlier breakthrough by the Moore group at the John Innes Center in identifying the wheat gene (ZIP4) responsible for correct chromosome pairing and preservation of wheat yield, but which also prevents the introduction of beneficial new traits from wheat wild relatives by suppressing chromosome exchange.

Using gene editing technology, the researchers have split the dual function of ZIP4 so that it maintains yields but enables wheat to be more easily crossed with wild relatives. This could contribute genetic diversity in elite varieties, including traits such as heat resilience and disease resistance.

Professor Moore added, "Climate change is likely to have a negative effect on meiosis and therefore on wheat fertility and ultimately crop yields, so screening of germplasm collections to identify heat-tolerant genotypes is a high priority for the future of crop improvement."

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