18-BTT: Advancing hybrid wheat production through the use of novel pathways for male sterility

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The overarching aim of this proposal is to develop novel genetic pathways to induce male sterility in hexaploid (bread) wheat as a route to facilitate production methods for hybrid wheat. The approach is based on preliminary data from studies on rice and maize that have identified pathways which, when perturbed, yield environmentally sterile phenotypes, i.e responsive to photoperiod or temperature. The project will target several pathways, with several targets in the biogenesis pathways that generate abundant small RNAs (21- to 24-nt in length). These two classes of reproductive phased, secondary RNAs (known as 'phasiRNAs') are generated at the critical stages of cell fate setting and during meiosis in grass anther development. Disruption of their biogenesis or encoding loci in both rice and maize leads to conditional male sterility. The proposal exploits these observations to target and disrupt these phasiRNAs in wheat and assess the consequences of this disruption on male sterility. The project will complement work on this pathway by targeting at least one other pathway known to generate a similar phenotype. The PIs' expertise covers small RNAs, plant genomics and targeted mutagenesis, bioinformatics, wheat genetics, cytogenetics and meiotic studies. The proposal is risky but there is preliminary data to suggest all aims are achievable. Success in this area could increase wheat yields by at least 10%, potentially more, representing an extra ~20 million metric tons of wheat in just the EU and US alone, grown with the same inputs and footprint.