BREEDWHEAT: Breeding for Sustainable Wheat Varieties, an Integrated Project from Genomics to Selection

The challenge for wheat breeding is to deliver safe, high-quality, and health-promoting food and feed in a sustainable manner across environments affected by global change. In that context, the BreedWheat project gathers 28 public and private partners in research and breeding to ensure that the knowledge, resources, and methods are translated rapidly into products and varieties. BreedWheat will not only participate in new technological developments of markers and phenotyping methods, but will also integrate high throughput genotyping, phenotyping, physiological studies and modeling to decipher the genetic and ecophysiological bases of major traits for Northern Europe. This long-term project (9 years) includes the sequencing of chromosome 1B, detection of new structural genetic polymorphisms, large scale SNP production, genetic and physical mapping of those SNP, and the generation of more than 2 billion genotyping data points. A large experimental network was developed to phenotype association panels for nitrogen use efficiency, grain proteins composition, drought tolerance, Septoria leaf blotch and Fusarium head blight resistance. About 5 000 wheat lines from the INRA genetic resources centre were characterized and used to construct a new association panel. Moreover nine advanced backcross populations were created to introgress stress tolerance diversity in French elite material. Innovative statistical tools, including genomic selection, are developed within a real size selection program, in order to address both technical and socio-economic aspects of the implementation of novel breeding strategies in seed companies. Finally, a robust bioinformatics platform enabling efficient data storage and breeder friendly access is established.