Abstract
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is the most important staple crop worldwide. Wheat has a large and allohexaploid genome with more than 107 thousand gene models that expand over 21 chromosomes with 3 replicates. The high complexity of the wheat genome has restricted the success of conventional breeding programs. Wheat genome modification by biotechnological methods has been hindered due to the current methods limitations and safety issues over genetically-modified crops. CRISPR/Cas9 is an emerging biotechnological tool that holds promises for multiplexed, sequence-specific, efficient and rapid manipulation of large genomes such as that of wheat. The CRISPR/Cas9 system introduces sequence-specific double-strand breaks (DSBs) in DNA by synthetic nucleases. The targeted genomic loci are then fixed by DNA repair mechanisms such as non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) or homology-directed repair (HDR). The system and its improved sub-techniques have achieved significant successes in addressing biosafety and legal concerns over genetically-modified plant production. In this chapter, the history, potentials and the latest results of CRISPR/Cas9-based genetic manipulations in bread wheat is reviewed.
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Appendix I: Research Institutes Relevant to Wheat Biotechnology
Appendix I: Research Institutes Relevant to Wheat Biotechnology
Institution | Specialization and research activities | Website |
|---|---|---|
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico | The development of improved varieties of wheat and maize | |
The Nottingham/BBSRC Wheat Research Centre (WISP), UK | Creating genetic variation for agronomically and scientifically important traits from wild and distantly related species into wheat | |
Wheat initiative institutions, Berlin, Germany | International collaboration for wheat breeding | http://www.wheatinitiative.org/about-us/countries-international-research-centres |
Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, NARO, Japan | Understanding the biological phenomena of wheat transformation | |
Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, ETH, Zurich | Improving wheat nutritional qualities as well as understanding the molecular processes that play a key role in protecting the crop against biotic and abiotic stresses | |
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) | To share the benefits of crop biotechnology to various stakeholders, particularly resource-poor farmers in developing countries, through knowledge sharing initiatives and the transfer and delivery of proprietary biotechnology applications | |
BASF Plant Science, USA | Wheat genetic engineering | |
John Innes Centre, UK | To develop new wheat germplasm containing the next generation of key traits | |
Rothamsted Research (RRES), UK | Improving the environmental resilience of the wheat crop through genetics and targeted traits analysis | |
National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) | Functional analysis of wheat genes for breeding new traits for commercial exploitation through traditional breeding techniques | |
Earlham Institute (EI), UK | Genetic diversity in wheat and Sequencing the wheat genome | |
European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) | Analysis of the bread wheat genome | |
International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium, IWGSC | To establish a high quality reference sequence of the wheat genome anchored to the genetic/phenotypic maps |
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Dayani, S., Sabzalian, M.R., Mazaheri-Tirani, M. (2019). CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing in Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genetic Improvement. In: Al-Khayri, J., Jain, S., Johnson, D. (eds) Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies: Cereals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23108-8_12
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