Phase II IUCRC at Kansas State University: Center for Wheat Genetic Resources (WGRC)

小麦作为世界各地的主要作物和商品价值巨大，占全球所有蛋白质和卡路里的20%以上，同时为美国经济贡献了约300亿美元的增长。 小麦生产面临着日益多变和不利的气候的综合挑战，包括新的疾病和虫害的压力。 在这方面，必须开发具有更广泛遗传基础的新的气候适应性品种。 作为新小麦品种成功的一个原材料，需要来自野生近缘种的新遗传多样性来提高性能和对压力的适应力。 位于堪萨斯州立大学的小麦遗传资源中心（WGRC）产学合作研究中心（IUCRC）的主要重点是有效和高效地挖掘这些遗传资源，并通过对下一代小麦行业科学家的跨领域培训，加速向行业合作伙伴提供改良的多样化种质。 向行业合作伙伴提供新的遗传资源和高素质的科学家是小麦行业未来进步和成功的基础。 小麦产量潜力和营养品质的提高有助于农业部门的恢复力，并为社会提供负担得起的营养小麦食品。小麦基因组复杂，是人类基因组的五倍多，而面包小麦的遗传基础狭窄，这给育种和解决小麦产业面临的问题带来了挑战。 管理小麦遗传多样性以提高作物性能和培训新的科学家是WGRC-IUCRC的主要职能，也是小麦研究企业成功的关键因素。 该中心正在推进对所有基因组和倍性水平的数千种小麦野生亲缘种的完整遗传表征和管理，同时利用这些信息开发改良种质，以交付给行业合作伙伴。 随着对遗传多样性的有针对性的理解，可以大大加快通过等位基因挖掘在改良种质中获得和递送新等位基因。 有效获取和转移野生近缘种基因和染色体的技术创新将允许通过靶向染色体工程、增加重组、标记辅助育种和基因组预测将有用性状快速转移到优良种质。 通过合作的行业测试网络，该中心提供改良的种质，包括染色体渐渗原种和具有1）非生物胁迫耐受性，2）抗病和抗虫，3）产量潜力和稳定性; 4）最终-该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，更广泛的影响审查标准。

Wheat is immensely valued as a staple crop and commodity throughout the world, accounting for over 20% of all protein and calories worldwide while contributing an estimated $30 billion boost to the US economy. Wheat production faces the combined challenges of increasingly variable and unfavorable climates, including new disease and insect pest pressures. In this context, new climate resilient varieties with a broadened genetic base must be developed. As a raw ingredient to the success of new wheat varieties, novel genetic diversity from wild relatives is needed to improve performance and resilience to stress. The Wheat Genetics Resource Center (WGRC) Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) at Kansas State University has the primary focus of effectively and efficiently mining these genetic resources and accelerating delivery of improved diverse germplasm to industry partners with cross-cutting training of the next generation of wheat industry scientists. The delivery of novel genetic resources and high-caliber scientists to industry partners is the ground work for future advancements and success in the wheat industry. The resulting improvement of yield potential and nutritional quality in wheat contributes toward resilience of the agriculture sector and the accessibility of affordable and nutritious wheat-based foods to society.The complex wheat genome, more than five times larger than the human genome, and the narrow genetic base of bread wheat, present formable challenges in breeding and to address problems facing the wheat industry. Managing wheat genetic diversity to improve crop performance and training of new scientists are major functions of the WGRC IUCRC-and are critical success factors for the wheat research enterprise. The center is advancing full genetic characterization and curation of thousands of accessions of wheat wild relatives across all genomes and ploidy levels while leveraging this information to develop improved germplasm for delivery to industry partners. With targeted understanding of the genetic diversity, accessing and delivering novel alleles in improved germplasm through allele mining can be greatly expedited. Technical innovations for efficiently accessing and transferring genes and chromosomes from wild relatives will allow rapid transfer of useful traits to elite germplasm through targeted chromosome engineering, increased recombination, marker assisted breeding and genomic prediction. Through collaborative industry testing networks, the center delivers improved germplasm including chromosome introgression stocks and diverse populations with 1) abiotic stress tolerance, 2) resistance to disease and insects, 3) yield potential and stability and 4) end-use nutrition and grain quality.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.