Breakthrough in wheat genome research

Pawsey bioinformatics researchers from UWA have discovered 21, 000 new genes in 16 varieties of common wheat.

Wheat is one of the most vital food crops in the world, yet is assembled of extremely complex genomes. The newly uncovered wheat gene variations will contribute to the improvement of bread, and knowledge of disease resistance wheat for breeders.

In an ABC Online article, Pawsey researcher Professor David Edwards reported that “a plant will be resistant because it has a resistance gene, and the susceptible ones will have that gene missing.”

“We’ve now been able to show for the first time which varieties have that gene and which ones don’t.”

Findings were published in the Plant Journal.