EINKORN GENOMICS TO DISCOVER NOVEL DWARFING GENES IN WHEAT

Abstract

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is an important crop accounting for 20% of calories consumed by humans. Global wheat production faces challenges due to various abiotic and biotic stresses. Genetic improvement of wheat with new genes and alleles is a must to fight against these challenges. Recent advancements in genetic resources pertaining to wheat have paved the way for increasingly significant discoveries to combat biotic and abiotic stresses which threaten global food security. However, wheat’s complex and polyploid genome presents a challenge in the gene discovery pipeline. One of the significant recent resources developed has been model systems which are like wheat but have simpler genomes to serve as an easier vehicle for gene discovery which can be translated into wheat through forward and reverse genetics approaches.Einkorn (Triticum monococcum, 2n=2x=14) is a strong resource for novel gene discovery and beneficial trait translation into wheat by way of the various developed resources and innate value due to its background. This thesis presents a step towards utilizing einkorn genomics to find new dwarfing genes in wheat. Chapter 1 of this thesis will focus on a literature review to provide background on wheat, T. monococcum, and dwarfing genes. Chapter 2 will cover the use of a previously developed mutagenized population of T. monococcum to screen for dwarfing genes and then create MutMap populations for dwarfing genes which show promise yielding SNP index peaks which could contain causal genes. Chapter 3 will focus on identifying the causal mutation in the candidate gene from the SNP peak region using Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) markers. The methods and findings of this research will serve to reinforce previously developed resources and discover novel dwarfing genes with benefits that can be introduced into wheat.