‘Holy grail’ wheat gene could make heat resistant crops

After several decades of work, researchers at the John Innes Centre (JIC) have stumbled on what they’re calling the ‘holy grail’ of wheat alterations.

Notorious for being the most difficult of all major crops to study, due to the complexity and scale of its genome, this is potentially the biggest breakthrough in the field to date (no pun intended). 

‘Human beings have a single genome that contains our DNA instructions, but pasta wheat has two different ancestral genomes while bread wheat has three,’ explained Professor Graham Moore of the JIC.

The key to making this doctored wheat more robust was found in wild relatives of the crop. Characteristics such as being disease resistant, having high salt tolerance, and natural protection against heat have allured scientists for years, but only now are these attributes being assimilated. 

A gene labelled by the institution as Zip4.5B finally allows wheat chromosomes to pair correctly, meaning theoretically we can make enhanced crops unaffected by a warming climate. 

How the science plays out in practice, researchers are extremely keen to find out. Trials are being prepped for later this month to see how the samples withstand the heat of Iberia, Spain, and whether the expected yield is to be unaffected. 

‘Wheat has played a remarkable role in human history. Hopefully, this work will help it to maintain its importance as a foodstuff for the future,’ Moore declares. Let’s hope this proves fruitful.