Exploring genetic diversity to identify new heat tolerance genes in wheat.

本项目旨在提高耐热小麦品种的选育水平。热浪严重降低了全球小麦产量，随着气候变化，情况将变得更糟。该项目旨在应用广泛的遗传扫描来确定澳大利亚和欧洲小麦品种在敏感开花期控制耐热性的主要染色体区域。预计这一知识将为育种人员提供选择耐热品种的关键工具。该项目还旨在利用基因表达谱数据、性状关联和其他物种的耐热基因知识，确定最有可能控制这些染色体位置耐热性的基因。预计这些基因将揭示耐热性的分子机制，并创造新的机会来设计更高水平的谷物耐热性。

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.