Identification of genetic regulators of photosynthetic carbon storage in wheat

如果要满足不断增长的全球作物需求，提高作物产量将是必要的。大多数提高小麦产量的研究都集中在提高作物的光合效率上。在本项目中，将从不同的角度研究小麦产量的提高：生长调控和光合作用产物的生长与储存分配。白天，植物进行光合作用。光合作用的产物分为蔗糖和淀粉两种，蔗糖要么留在叶片中，要么输出到植物的其他部分，用于快速生长。在夜间，淀粉被降解，以便在没有光线的情况下生长。据了解，淀粉降解在拟南芥中是线性发生的，至少部分受昼夜节律控制。这是因为淀粉降解的速度适应夜间的长度，以确保淀粉储备在黎明前不会耗尽。淀粉储备的正确利用与夜间最佳生长有关，这一领域的研究对提高产量很重要。在这个项目中，将使用多种方法将在拟南芥中获得的知识转移到小麦上。遗传方法将允许确定分配性状的遗传联系，而生化技术将用于研究淀粉和糖的昼夜变化。该项目旨在从一个新的角度研究提高一种重要作物的产量。

Improving the yield of crops will be necessary if the rising global crop demand is to be met. The majority of research to improve wheat yield has focused on improving the crop's photosynthetic efficiency. In this project, improving wheat yield will be investigated from a different perspective: regulation of growth and the allocation of the products of photosynthesis to growth versus storage. During the day, plants photosynthesise. The products of photosynthesis are partitioned between sucrose, which is either kept in the leaf or exported to other parts of the plant to be used for instant growth, or starch. At night, starch is degraded to allow growth in the absence of light. It is understood that starch degradation in Arabidopsis occurs linearly and is at least in part under circadian control. This is because the rate of starch degradation adapts to the length of the night to ensure that the starch reserves are not depleted before dawn. Correct utilisation of starch reserves has been linked to optimal growth at night making this area of research important to improving yield. In this project, a variety of approaches will be used to transfer knowledge gained in Arabidopsis to wheat. Genetic approaches will allow the determination of genetic linkage to allocation traits while biochemical techniques will be used to investigate the diel changes in starch and sugars. This project seeks to investigate improving the yield of an important crop plant from a novel perspective.