Source: CSIRO Plant Industry e-newsletter issue 14, winter 2006

Drought adaptation is a complex trait affected by many genes, so Dr Lynne McIntyre (photo) from Brisbane is looking at both individual genes and genomic regions associated with drought adaptation.

Using map-based approaches she is looking at genomic regions linked with anthesis, height, grain size, grain number and stem carbohydrates to assess their contribution to drought adaptation. These genomic regions have been flagged with ‘anonymous' DNA markers – otherwise redundant pieces of DNA – that make their location easy to find so that they can be used in breeding.

The research will provide information on the genetic complexity of these traits including their number and relative contribution to drought adaptation.

In related work Dr McIntyre's colleagues have identified several genes that vary in wheat lines with different drought adaptive traits. Dr McIntyre is researching whether these genes map to genomic regions associated with these traits and if they make better markers for these traits than anonymous DNA markers.

The information generated from this research could be used to help develop tools to indirectly select and combine genomic regions that contribute to drought adaptation, helping to breed wheat varieties better suited to the northern grain-growing regions of Australia.

This research is supported by the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

Full article in PDF format: http://www.pi.csiro.au/enewsletter/PDF/PI_info_DroughtTolerantWheat.pdf