How does heterosis affect yield, quality and disease resistance in hybrid wheat?

有必要增加全球粮食产量，以满足不断增长的人口规模，并减少农业对环境的影响。目前，为了增加小麦等主要农作物的产量，育种努力通过品系育种选择改良的表型。杂交已被证明可以极大地改良玉米和水稻等作物，并从由此产生的杂种优势中受益，包括提高产量、质量和抗逆性。小麦杂交以前在商业上是不可行的，但随着新技术的发展，生产杂交小麦种子现在拥有巨大的潜力。然而，我们还不知道在杂交小麦中结合等位基因以提高产量、品质和抗病能力的最佳方法。本项目将使用遗传学和基因组学方法来鉴定对关键农艺性状有利的基因组合。我们将调查在传统纯合品系中有益的等位基因是否能在杂合状态下提供益处，以及相关等位基因的母本或父本捐赠是否会影响表型。这项研究将为深入理解杂交小麦改良表型的遗传学基础提供依据，并适用于其他植物物种。

There is a need to increase global food production to meet growing population sizes, as well to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture. Currently, to increase the production of staple crops such as wheat, breeding efforts select for improved phenotypes through line breeding. Hybridisation has been shown to greatly improve crops, such as maize and rice, with benefits from the resulting heterosis including increased yields, quality and stress resistance. Hybridisation of wheat has previously not been commercially viable, but with the development of new technologies, producing hybrid wheat seeds now holds great potential. However, we do not yet understand the best ways to combine alleles within hybrid wheat to promote increased yields, quality and disease resistance.This project will use genetic and genomic approaches to identify combinations of genes beneficial for key agronomic traits. We will investigate whether alleles that are beneficial in conventional homozygous lines can provide benefits in the heterozygous state within hybrids, and whether the maternal or paternal donation of relevant alleles affects the phenotype. This research will provide deeper understanding of the genetics underpinning improved phenotypes in hybrid wheat, as well as being applicable to other plant species.