Researchers present new approach to identify key regulatory factors in wheat spike development

Wheat, a globally important food crop, has its yield determined by factors such as number of spikes per unit area, thousand grain weight and grain yield per spike. Spike shape directly affects spikelet number, grain yield, and overall yield of wheat. Unraveling the key regulators of wheat spike development and investigating their molecular mechanisms hold great promise for precision breeding and molecular improvement of spike morphology.

In a ___ the study Published in The molecular plantResearchers led by Zhao Jun of the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) presented an innovative approach. By integrating multidimensional omics, Population geneticsand gene function analysis, the researchers outlined a systematic and efficient strategy to identify key regulatory factors. Wheat Spike development.

Through comprehensive sequencing of wheat spike transcriptomes, chromatin accessibility, and Histone modification At key developmental stages, they defined the dynamic transcriptional and epigenetic landscape of wheat spike maturation, culminating in the construction of a transcriptional regulatory network (TRN).

By combining multidimensional omics with population genetics, the researchers identified 227 putative regulatory factors affecting spike development, 42 of which have already been implicated in spike formation in wheat or rice.

Phenotypic screening of 61 novel genes using the KN9204 mutant library revealed 36 mutations, including TaMYC2-A1 , TaMYB30-A1 , and TaWRKY37-A1 , altering flowering time or spike morphology. Functional characterization of TaMYB30-A1 highlighted the utility of TRN in understanding gene function and its functional utility in wheat breeding measures.

Simultaneously, a comprehensive multi-omics database for wheat spike development, known as WSMOD, was launched. The platform provides researchers with convenient “all-in-one” access to various services, including gene information retrieval, co-expression analysis, TRN prediction, epigenetic mapping, and mutant library search functions.

In summary, this study elucidates the dynamic changes that occur during the growing growth of wheat, both in form and shape. Gene duplication and epigenetic regulation. It integrates multidimensional data including transcriptomics, epigenomics and population genetics to unravel these processes. Construction of TRN specific for wheat spike development represents a systematic, efficient and accurate strategy to identify key regulatory factors.