Development of Genome Wide Introgressions from Aegilops mutica into Wheat

Due to modern breeding practises relatively little genetic variation is available in modern wheat varieties for breeders to develop superior adapted genotypes with increased yield potential and tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses. The wild relatives of wheat provide a vast and largely untapped reservoir of genetic variation (for traits such as tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses, biomass, yield and photosynthetic potential).

Our primary objective is to transfer small, alien chromosome segments, carrying target genes but lacking deleterious genes, into hexaploid wheat quickly and efficiently. This is being achieved via exploitation of new marker technology, comparative mapping, in-situ hybridisation, exploitation of the genome sequence of model plant species and Next-Gen Sequencing technology platforms to detect and characterise wheat/wild relative recombinants.

In this poster, we describe the implementation of an introgression strategy that has led to the genome wide introgression, into wheat, of genetic variation from Aegilops mutica (2n = 2x = 14; genome TT) a wild related species. The detection and characterisation of introgressions generated was facilitated via a new Affymetrix wild relative SNP array, specifically designed to detect introgressions in wheat from its wild relatives. The approaches we have employed have resulted in a step change in the generation and detection of wheat/wild relative introgressions that can be exploited for the development of superior, high yielding, environmentally adapted wheat varieties.