Understanding adaptation to increase temperature robustness in wheat

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Wheat is the UK's primary arable crop and provides a large proportion of the global calorie, protein and micro-nutrient requirements for both humans and livestock. Current predictions indicate that a 1C increase in global temperature would lead to a 4.1-6.3% decrease in wheat yield, yet yield needs to be increased by an estimated 60% by 2050 to meet the demands of a growing population. To address this challenge and improve the reliability of the wheat yield to changing climates we must understand how plants respond to temperature. I will utilise the naturally existing genetic diversity in wheat and combine this with recently curated mutant populations and the newly annotated wheat genome sequence to identify genes and biological processes involved in temperature adaptation in wheat. Currently, we do not understand the genetic or molecular basis of how wheat responds to temperatures under standard growing conditions, ~6-24C. My recent research focuses on this temperature range and has challenged the assumption that the response to overwintering (vernalization) only occurs at < 6C. This was identified after I observed heat activation of the same genes that function in low temperature vernalization. This raises the possibility that many of the genes involved in the vernalization response can also be employed to regulate and increase crop robustness and yield at higher ambient temperatures. I plan to build on this discovery by identifying other genes involved in regulating the key developmental transition from vegetative to reproductive growth under field conditions, and then explore how these genes function (Objective 1). To date the majority of research on temperature responses has been limited to constant controlled temperature conditions, yet my research indicates that the mechanisms by which plants respond to variable temperatures, such as those experienced by crop plants growing in the field, are actually quite different. I will also investigate the molecular function of genes which have been shown to be important in vernalization and identify the proteins they interact with and how they function under different temperature conditions (Objectives 2 and 3). Finally, I will investigate methods to accelerate vernalization under experimental conditions to increase research and wheat breeding capabilities with wheat that requires vernalization (Objective 4). This Fellowship is timely as it combines my recent advances in understanding the molecular basis of temperature responses in wheat with the newly (2018) released wheat genome sequence, curated mutant populations and high-throughput genome sequencing capabilities. The Fellowship will be conducted at the University of Bristol as this will facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations as well as collaborations within the renowned School of Biological Sciences. In addition, Bristol has established field trial sites and world-leading sequencing resources, both of which are important for this research. The Fellowship will also support collaboration between the Fellow and industry to enable knowledge exchange from this research to influence the performance of wheat under diverse environmental conditions. This research will advance our knowledge of temperature adaptation in wheat and enable the formation of an integrated understanding of how plants use temperature to regulate key developmental decisions. This will have societal benefit by providing information and resources that can be exploited in the wheat breeding industry, for example, to reduce the duration of breeding cycles and provide methods to increase the robustness of wheat yield to the erratic temperature patterns associated with climate change.