Objective
The aim of the project is to obtain insights into the genetics and physiology of the adaptation to climatic factors in wheat, with the emphasis on Ukraine. Genetic stocks of wheat are available at Norwich, Odessa and Wageningen and/or are being developed for genes that control adaptation to climatic factors.
Near-isogenic lines are sets of lines that are genetically identical except for alleles of a single gene. In substitution lines a single chromosome has been replaced by a homoeologous chromosome, often from a wild species related to wheat. Single recombinant lines, developed from substitution lines, offer some of the most precise genetic stocks in plants, limiting recombination to a single chromosome in an otherwise homozygous background. This material permits the establishment of pleiotropic effects of agronomically important genes, linkage mapping of these genes to others on the same chromosome, and detection of linked molecular or biochemical markers to ease handling of the gene in genetic experiments and breeding programmes. Direct comparisons within such sets of lines make it possible to study the effect of the gene or the chromosome on important characteristics such as adaptation, yield, disease and abiotic stress resistance.
In this project genes and chromosomes controlling day-length insensitivity and earliness per se (homoeologous group 2) and vernalization insensitivity (homoeologous group 5) will be introduced in fully sensitive genotypes. These genes are very important in wheat. Typically, winter wheats, sown in autumn, are characterised by vernalization sensitivity, while spring wheats are vernalization insensitive. At high latitudes, where days lengthen in summer, most varieties are characterised by day-length sensitivity, while at low latitudes, in more Mediterranean and sub-tropical regions, most varieties are day-length insensitive. Since variations of the development loci are found in wheat, fine tuning of crop development is possible by using combinations of alleles on different loci.
This project will, to a limited extent, make it possible for the Ukrainian group to complete their work on various sets of near-isogenic wheat lines, and to test those lines, together with genetic stocks that have been, or are currently being, developed in The Netherlands and Great Britain, in field experiments in Ukraine. Furthermore, the project will show which genes are most important for adaptation, in both Ukraine and Western Europe, and should enable a breeding strategy to be formulated, utilising day-length and vernalization insensitivity genes and genes for earliness per se, to breed adapted wheat varieties with high yield potential and high yield stability.
Topic(s)
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6700 WAGENINGEN
Netherlands