SIMPLIFIED TRAIT AND GENE DISCOVERY FOR DROUGHT RESILIENCE IN WHEAT USING EINKORN WHEAT

Abstract

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) supplies approximately 20% of global caloric intake, yet its production is increasingly threatened by climate-driven biotic and abiotic stresses, particularly drought. Genetic improvement remains the most sustainable strategy for enhancing stress resilience and yield stability; however, gene discovery in bread wheat is complicated by its allohexaploid genome (AABBDD, 2n = 6x = 42) and extensive genetic redundancy. In contrast, diploid einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum, 2n = 2x = 14) provides a simple and elegant system for dissecting the basis of complex traits. This study utilizes einkorn wheat as a model to identify novel genes and alleles associated with early-stage drought tolerance through controlled osmotic stress phenotyping and high-resolution genome-wide association analyses. The findings establish a framework for translating adaptive alleles from diploid wheat into bread wheat, supporting the development of climate-resilient cultivars for water-limited environments.