Recent Posts

TaGSK3 regulates the Green Revolution Protein Rht-B1b to reduce wheat plant height

Dong, Li, et al. explore the mechanisms regulating a Green Revolution protein that acts to reduce plant height Huixue Dong1,2,3, Danping Li1,3, Ruizhen Yang1, Lichao Zhang1, Yunwei Zhang1, Xu Liu1, Xiuying Kong1,*, and Jiaqiang Sun1,* State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Resources and Breeding,…

Circadian regulation of the transcriptome in a complex polyploid crop (PLoS Biol)

Circadian regulation fine-tunes patterns of gene expression in plants in changing environments and has been selected for during crop domestication. Many studies have been done on circadian gene expression in Arabidopsis, but far less is known about this regulation in hexaploid bread wheat, especially…

Engineering a wheat spike

Li et al. investigated genes regulating wheat spike development and found that SQUAMOSA and SVP genes control the development of normal spikes. Plant Cell. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab243 By Jorge Dubcovsky, Kun Li and Juan Manuel Debernardi, University of California, Davis, CA, USA Background:…

Misexpression of a MADS-box gene results in longer glumes and grains in wheat

Adamski et al. reveal that the expression of a MADS-box transcription factor is the basis for a grain phenotype observed in Polish wheat. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab119 By Cristobal Uauy and Nikolai M Adamski John Innes Centre, Norwich NR4 7UH, United Kingdom Background:…

Transcriptome Dynamics and Gene Activities during Embryo and Grain Development in Wheat

Xiang et al. elucidate transcriptome dynamics and gene activities during embryogenesis and grain development in modern wheat and its progenitors. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.19.00397. By Daoquan Xiang, Teagen D. Quilichini, Peng Gao, and Raju Datla Aquatic and Crop Resource Development,…

XAT catalyzes carotenoid esterification in wheat

Watkins et al. have identified XAT as the enzyme responsible for esterification and subsequent  stabilization of lutein in wheat grains. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.09.00272 By Jacinta Watkinsa, Barry Pogsona and Diane Matherb. aARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Energy Biology, Research…

Breeding improves wheat productivity under contrasting agrochemical input levels (Nature Biotech.)

Wheat breeding programs are releasing new cultivars almost every year for improved yield potential. But is this intensive breeding not compromising the plant performance under adverse environmental conditions? Voss-Fels et al. studied the elite cultivars of winter wheat released during the last 50 years,…

Rate of photosynthetic acclimation to fluctuating light varies widely among genotypes of wheat (bioRxiv)

The speed at which photosynthesis is induced during shade-sun transitions, such as sun-flecks, contributes towards determining crop yield.  The speed of induction can be limited by the dynamics of stomatal and mesophyll conductance, deactivation rates of photoprotective mechanisms, the acclimation rate…