FastStack - evolutionary computing to stack desirable alleles in wheat. This project aims to investigate rapid development of new, high-yielding wheat varieties with appropriate disease resistance. An emerging challenge in wheat breeding is how to stack desirable alleles for disease resistance, drought, and end-use quality into new varieties with high yielding backgrounds in the shortest time. As the number of known desirable alleles for these traits increases, the number of possible crossing c ....FastStack - evolutionary computing to stack desirable alleles in wheat. This project aims to investigate rapid development of new, high-yielding wheat varieties with appropriate disease resistance. An emerging challenge in wheat breeding is how to stack desirable alleles for disease resistance, drought, and end-use quality into new varieties with high yielding backgrounds in the shortest time. As the number of known desirable alleles for these traits increases, the number of possible crossing combinations that need to be considered increases. This project aims to use evolutionary computing with speed breeding and genomic selection, in the partners breeding program, to address this challenge. Potential outcomes will lead to more profitable wheat varieties for Australian growers, and expanded exports to high value markets that require quality grain.Read moreRead less
Identifying the diversity and evolution of loci associated with adaptation to aridity/heat and salinity in ancient cereal crops. This project will use ancient grains of wheat, barley and rye to find 'lost' genetic diversity at key genes associated with resistance to aridity, salt and disease. This project will make the proteins of key genes, and study their interaction with the environment over time by measuring ions in the grains to reveal the ancient environmental conditions.
Genomic selection: a new frontier for higher rates of genetic gain in wheat. The historical rates of genetic gain in wheat production are insufficient to meet the world's future needs for wheat-based food. Genomic selection (GS) is the most likely candidate tool that is capable of delivering the required level of genetic gain. This project will develop data-sets and statistical methods to implement GS in wheat.
Enhancing Genomic Prediction for Changing Environments in Wheat. Adverse weather is the primary risk faced by the Australian agriculture industry. This Project aims to develop the next generation of agriculture tools to unlock natural potential in wheat and improve yield stability across seasons and regions. Drawing on crop physiology, genetics and integrated modelling, this Project expects to generate new knowledge and technologies to untangle genetic and environmental interactions that affect ....Enhancing Genomic Prediction for Changing Environments in Wheat. Adverse weather is the primary risk faced by the Australian agriculture industry. This Project aims to develop the next generation of agriculture tools to unlock natural potential in wheat and improve yield stability across seasons and regions. Drawing on crop physiology, genetics and integrated modelling, this Project expects to generate new knowledge and technologies to untangle genetic and environmental interactions that affect productivity, enhance predictive capability, and initiate advanced breeding strategies to develop new crop varieties with superior resilience against changing climates. This should provide significant benefits, such as profit stability for wheat growers, elevated global market position and improved food security.Read moreRead less
Developing Zn-dense, high-yielding wheat by molecular marker technology. The objective of this project is to identify pathways leading to the accumulation of zinc — an important element for human nutrition — in wheat. The project aims to provide biochemical and molecular markers for breeding programs that will facilitate the selection of superior breeding lines for improved human nutrition and seed health. This project builds on studies using a wheat diversity panel with 90 000 gene-based single ....Developing Zn-dense, high-yielding wheat by molecular marker technology. The objective of this project is to identify pathways leading to the accumulation of zinc — an important element for human nutrition — in wheat. The project aims to provide biochemical and molecular markers for breeding programs that will facilitate the selection of superior breeding lines for improved human nutrition and seed health. This project builds on studies using a wheat diversity panel with 90 000 gene-based single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, where zinc–SNP associations were identified. The project also builds on recent studies that show particular metabolites and macronutrients around anthesis are linked to improved grain zinc concentration at maturity.Read moreRead less
Digging deeper to improve yield stability. This project aims to provide innovative breeding solutions that harness the ‘hidden’ part of the plant, roots, to support the development of more productive crops in the face of climate variability. The project expects to generate new insights into the biology and genetics of root development in barley, a model cereal crop, by applying cutting-edge genome editing, phenotyping and genomics technologies. Anticipated outcomes include novel methodologies to ....Digging deeper to improve yield stability. This project aims to provide innovative breeding solutions that harness the ‘hidden’ part of the plant, roots, to support the development of more productive crops in the face of climate variability. The project expects to generate new insights into the biology and genetics of root development in barley, a model cereal crop, by applying cutting-edge genome editing, phenotyping and genomics technologies. Anticipated outcomes include novel methodologies to accelerate breeding for diverse production environments, with direct applications in barley, and other major cereals including wheat and oats. This should provide significant economic and social benefits to the Australian grains industry through yield stability amidst climate variability.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101407
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$447,524.00
Summary
Revealing and navigating a path to climate-ready crops. This project aims to investigate how well multi-dimensional biological and environmental data can be integrated to improve the prediction of plant performance under climatic fluctuations. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of quantitative genetics using an approach that combines trans-disciplinary research fields. Expected outcomes of this project include an example for how to advance conventional prediction methods ....Revealing and navigating a path to climate-ready crops. This project aims to investigate how well multi-dimensional biological and environmental data can be integrated to improve the prediction of plant performance under climatic fluctuations. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of quantitative genetics using an approach that combines trans-disciplinary research fields. Expected outcomes of this project include an example for how to advance conventional prediction methods using fundamental biological models that underlie plant growth. This will provide significant benefits, such as an enhancement of collaborative research across areas with the potential to significantly advance the general understanding of how plants interact with the environment.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101127
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
An integrated statistical genetics framework for breeding superior wheat varieties. Genetic studies in agriculture are rapidly increasing in size and complexity in pursuit of genes behind desirable traits such as yield and water use efficiency. This project will address the need for efficient statistical methods to analyse genetic data and thus enable production of wheat varieties that will contribute to Australian food security.
Exploring genetic diversity to identify new heat tolerance genes in wheat. This project aims to improve the selection and development of heat-tolerant wheat varieties. Heatwaves seriously reduce wheat yields worldwide, and the situation will worsen with climate variation. This project aims to apply a broad genetic scan to identify the main chromosome regions controlling heat tolerance at the sensitive flowering stage in Australian and European wheat varieties. It is expected that this knowledge ....Exploring genetic diversity to identify new heat tolerance genes in wheat. This project aims to improve the selection and development of heat-tolerant wheat varieties. Heatwaves seriously reduce wheat yields worldwide, and the situation will worsen with climate variation. This project aims to apply a broad genetic scan to identify the main chromosome regions controlling heat tolerance at the sensitive flowering stage in Australian and European wheat varieties. It is expected that this knowledge will deliver crucial breeders’ tools to select heat-tolerant varieties. The project also aims to identify genes most likely to control tolerance at these chromosome locations using gene expression profiling data, trait associations and knowledge of heat-tolerance genes from other species. It is expected that these genes will reveal molecular mechanisms of heat tolerance and create new opportunities to engineer superior levels of tolerance in cereals.Read moreRead less
Reconstructing wheat evolution using ancient DNA. The domestication of wild grasses by farmers was a step change in human history; it led to the emergence of modern cereals and with them, western civilisation. This project will apply modern DNA sequencing methods to 5000-year-old cereal seeds to reconstruct the history of wheat, barley and other crops, and identify lost ancient forms and diversity.