Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops worldwide, and for centuries breeders strived to adapt it to different climates, enhance yield and increase the resistance to environmental stresses, microbial pathogenes and insect pests.

In the United States wheat is unique among the major crop plants in that public sector researchers are the main providers of the new varieties farmers grow. Public varieties account for a large fraction of the wheat production in the US.

The goal of this site is to increase the competitiveness of public wheat breeding programs through the intensive use of modern selection technologies, mainly Marker Assisted Selection (MAS).

The links below present more information on MAS and our work, educational and outreach materials and detailed laboratory methods.

This part of the site contains detailed protocols for marker assisted selection (MAS) of disease resistance, qualty and agronomic traits. Also, general lab methods and data preparation procedures for submission to GrainGenes.

interactive map of stripe rust resistance genes.

Map of stem rust resistance genes.

Here you can get learning resources related to molecular breeding: animations, interactive training tools and documents for the general public.

Plant Breeding: A modern career

Training tool: Test your skills scoring glutenin gels (Flash required).

Catalogue of Gene Symbols for Wheat - Mirror

Supplemental materials for "Next generation sequencing provides rapid access to the genome of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, the causal agent of wheat stripe rust". PLoS ONE 6(8): e24230. link

Supplemental materials for "Separating homeologs by phasing in the tetraploid wheat transcriptome". Genome Biology 2013, 14:R66. link

Interactive map of stripe rust resistance genes based on the figure prepared for A Genome-Wide Association Study of Resistance to Stripe Rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) in a Worldwide Collection of Hexaploid Spring Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)