337. Alix K, Gérard PR, Schwarzacher T, Heslop-Harrison JS. 2017. Polyploidy and interspecific hybridisation: partners for adaptation, speciation and evolution in plants. Annals of Botany 120(2): 183-194. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcx079 (Free access). Polyploidy, defined as whole genome duplication, is present in almost all lineages of higher plants, with multiple rounds of polyploidy occurring in most extant species. This Annals…
Tag: wheat
Domestication, polyploidy and genomics of crops and weeds PAGXXV
Plant and Animal Genome Conference in San Diego #PAGXXV each January is the chance to join 3500 people working in genomics. I presented a talk on the molecular cytogenetics group’s work, starting with consideration of early stages of crop domestication, and then thinking about how we can make agriculture more sustainable. I also considered weeds,…
CENH3 morphogenesis reveals dynamic centromere associations during synaptonemal complex formation and the progression through male meiosis in hexaploid wheat
330. Sepsi A, Higgins JD, Heslop-Harrison JS, Schwarzacher T. 2017. CENH3 morphogenesis reveals dynamic centromere associations during synaptonemal complex formation and the progression through male meiosis in hexaploid wheat. Plant Journal 89: 235-249. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/tpj.13379 and Author Version: Sepsi et al. 2016. CENH3 and wheat meiosis. Plant Journal. See bottom of page for YouTube video links. During…
Molecular Cytogenetics Group – an infographic of what we do
Infographic: what we do in the Molecular Cytogenetics Research Group
Introgression of chromosome segments from multiple alien species in wheat breeding lines with wheat streak mosaic virus resistance
324. Ali N, Heslop-Harrison JS, Ahmad H, Graybosch RA, Hein GL, Schwarzacher T. 2016. Introgression of chromosome segments from multiple alien species in wheat breeding lines with wheat streak mosaic virus resistance. Heredity (2016) 117, 114–123; published online 1 June 2016 doi:10.1038/hdy.2016.36 Author version: N_Ali_et al 2016 Multiple Alien Introgressions in Wheat Publisher site: http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/vaop/ncurrent/pdf/hdy201636a.pdf Pyramiding of…
Wheat-Thinopyrum bessarabicum recombinant lines with intercalary translocations
318. Patokar C, Sepsi A, Schwarzacher T, Kishii M, Heslop-Harrison JS. 2016. Molecular cytogenetic characterization of novel wheat-Thinopyrum bessarabicum recombinant lines carrying intercalary translocations. Chromosoma 125: 163–172. 10.1007/s00412-015-0537-6 Publisher website. Version from Wheat-Thinopyrum introgression and chromosomal recombinants. Thinopyrum bessarabicum (2n=2x=14, JJ or EbEb) is a valuable source of genes for bread wheat (2n = 6x=42) improvement because…
Agriculture and Climate Change in Southeast Asia and the Middle East: Breeding, Climate Change Adaptation, Agronomy, and Water Security
313. Noorka IR, Heslop-Harrison JS 2014. Agriculture and Climate Change in Southeast Asia and the Middle East: Breeding, Climate Change Adaptation, Agronomy, and Water Security. In: Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation, Ed Leal Filho W. 1-8. Springer Berlin Heidelberg http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40455-9_74-1 Link to NoorkaHeslopHarrisonBreedingClimateChangeAuthorVersion with colour figures. Link to typeset first page of publication. The agriculture of Southeast Asia and the Middle East…
Needs for understanding water and food security
“The earth’s land surface receives about 110,000 km3 of rainfall annually. More than half of this water is evapotranspired (transmitted from soils and through plants to the air); about 20,000 km3 falls on land that is cultivated in some form; and about 40,000 km3 becomes available in dams, lakes, rivers, streams and aquifers for human…
Water stress and spring wheat – genetics and Pakistan
TS. Noorka IR, Schwarzacher T. 2013. Water a response factor to screen suitable genotypes to fight and traverse periodic onslaughts of water scarcity in spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). International Journal of Water Resources and Arid Environments 3(1): 37-44. ISSN 2079-7079 Pakistan lies in a semi arid to arid region with neither sufficient nor reliable rainfall….
Wheat-Thinopyrum introgression work wins prize for Niaz Ali, Hazara, Pakistan
Dr Niaz Ali, Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan works on the introgression of characters from alien species into wheat, having completed his PhD in Leicester in 2012 with Dr Trude Schwarzacher. He presented his PhD work at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB http://www.sebiology.org/meetings /Valencia/Programmes.html) in the session on Exploiting genetic diversity for…
Dr Ijaz Rasool Noorka – Collaborator from University of Sargodha, Pakistan and Visiting Research Fellow
Dr Ijaz Rasool Noorka has broad interests in the development of productive and sustainable agriculture for Pakistan and developing countries. His interests complement those of the Molecular Cytogenetics Group, and have enabled us to extend our consideration of the outcomes and impact of our work on exploitation of biodiversity by chromosome engineering. Ijaz has been…
Superdomestication, feed-forward breeding and climate proofing crops
Climate Proofing of Food Crops, through genetic improvement for adaptation, is an important, medium-term, objective to ensure food-security and increase production while enhancing the sustainability of agriculture. The IAEA has a Coordinated Research Project discussing this topic (archive version). In the YouTube video here, I discuss some of the challenges plant researchers are addressing, and…
Alien chromosome introgression transferring characters into bread wheat
In situ hybridization is now widely used to identify the nature and size of chromosome, chromosome arm and chromosome segment introgressions from alien or wild species in plant breeding lines. The molecular cytogenetics research group has several projects investigating introgression of chromosomes into wheat from rye, Thinopyrum (2x and 6x), Aegilops and other species or…
Molecular cytogenetics and genome evolution 