Analysing intrinsic heat response pathways to optimise thermal tolerance of wheat

Investment

GRDC Code: UOA2305-009RTX

Analysing intrinsic heat response pathways to optimise thermal tolerance of wheat

Biological processes that control a plant's response to temperature have been investigated in model species, and we aim to use knowledge gained from this work to analyse thermal responsive pathways in wheat. Three of the identified thermally responsive processes include chromatin-dependent regulation of transcription, aggregation of proteins with roles in the circadian clock, and accumulation of the non-proteinogenic amino acid, GABA (-Aminobutyric acid). We will identify transcript- and metabolite-based biomarkers for each of these processes to screen germplasm that is predicted to be tolerant to growth under warmer conditions. Germplasm identified to show thermal insensitivity will be screened for physiological and yield-related traits under high ambient temperatures in glasshouse and field-based trials, which will help determine if the biomarkers can be used as tools to identify genotypes that will perform well in a warmer climate. Together, the outputs will provide breeding tools to predict germplasm that is more tolerant to growth under high ambient temperatures, and a list of germplasm that shows resilience to heat.

Project start date:

15/05/2023

Project end date:

31/03/2027

Crop type: