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Genes to improve wheat frost tolerance
Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:00 pm
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With funding from USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), scientists in California have identified the genes in wheat that are responsible for the plant's tolerance to freezing temperatures.  This discovery may lead to improved crop production.

The tolerance for freezing temperatures varies in different winter wheat varieties, ranging from 1 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. When temperatures fall below this range, wheat is either injured or it dies.

The research team had previously identified a compact group of 11 genes on wheat chromosome 5AL. These genes play key roles in regulating a large number of other genes that confer tolerance to cold temperatures.

The team demonstrated that the frost-tolerant variety activated two of these genes earlier than the frost-susceptible varieties when exposed to decreasing temperatures. This earlier response helped to better prepare the plants for freezing temperatures.

"This research has great potential to be directly incorporated into winter wheat breeding programs where improved winter survival is a goal," said project collaborator Dr. Kim Garland-Campbell.  "The research to date has focused on differences between spring habit, cold-sensitive wheat and winter habit, winter-tolerant wheat.  Our next step is to further examine differences in freezing tolerance among winter wheat varieties to determine which genes are present and active in the hardiest varieties, such as from Russia, the Ukraine, Canada, western Nebraska, and other locations with extremely severe winters."

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