ABOUT THE PROJECT

INTRODUCTION

Wheat is unique among the major crop plants in that public sector researchers are largely responsible for providing new varieties to U.S. farmers. Public wheat varieties accounted for 78% of the 2001-2003 wheat production in the U.S. which represents an average of 38 million metric tons per year valued at more than $ 5 billion. The main objective of this project is to incorporate modern selection technologies to increase the competitiveness of these public wheat breeding programs. Most of the new genomic information for wheat is publicly available and therefore, international competitiveness is determined by the speed of implementation of new and better technologies. This represents both a challenge and a fantastic opportunity for U.S. wheat breeding programs that have the expertise required to successfully utilize these technological advances.

MARKER ASSISTED SELECTION

The central technology that will be incorporated in this project is called Marker Assisted Selection (MAS). Molecular markers are landmarks in the chromosome maps that can be used to monitor the transfer of specific chromosome segments known to carry useful agronomic traits. Breeders use these molecular markers to increase the precision of selection for the best trait combinations. Since genes are transferred from the same species by normal crossing between wheat parent lines followed by recombination in segregating progenies, the varieties developed by MAS are not considered genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and are accepted by all local and international wheat markets.

Wheat researchers have developed protocols for more than fifty molecular markers for resistance genes and quality traits and have used these markers to incorporate valuable genes in the best breeding lines from ten different market classes. These lines are being used in this project to deploy the targeted genes into thousands of lines across the breeding programs using high-throughput forward breeding strategies. This is made possible by the incorporation in this project of the four high-throughput genotyping laboratories recently established by USDA. These laboratories use modern equipment to provide breeders with the thousands of molecular markers required by this approach. Forward MAS strategies are very efficient because targeted genes are introgressed at the same time that superior gene combinations are created.

THE PROJECT

The research component of this proposal will focus on mapping, validating and implementing markers for quantitative traits prioritized by the wheat industry, for each of the different wheat market classes grown in the U.S. (see the mapping populations). Limited or no molecular markers are currently available for these complex traits. Results from this research will facilitate the manipulation of these complex traits by MAS in the near future.

This project also includes an extensive outreach component to share with growers and end-users information about the advantages and limitations of MAS. Graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in modern and traditional breeding techniques to prepare the next generation of U.S. breeders. This integrated project will provide lasting benefits to U.S. agriculture through improved varieties and germplasm and improve the ability of U.S. wheat breeding programs to capitalize on advances in genomics.

This project received funding from the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (USDA-CSREES), through the National Research Initiative, CAP grant number 2006-55606-16629

DOCUMENTS

The proposal submitted to USDA was preceded by a series of discussions and meetings. Of especial importance for this project was the stakeholders workshop held in Kansas City, MO on Feb. 22, 2004. The meeting allowed the exchange of opinions and the establishment of strategic goals for a larger wheat breeding project. You can get the pdf document with the conclusions here.

Later, on Aug. 22-24, 2004, we held a Planning Conference in Denver, during which a general plan was set up and draft proposal was prepared (pdf).

Finally, in 2005 a proposal detailing the breeding plan, mapping activities and the description of a teaching component was submitted to USDA consideration within the framework of the Coordinated Agricultural Projects (CAP). The complete proposal is available here.