Research Projects

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major cereal grown as staple food for 2.5 billion people in more than 89 countries of the world. But continuous changes in climatic condition is a serious threat globally to wheat production as it is causing changes in weather patterns. Wheat is expected to experience one of the most severe crop yield declines due to increase in environmental stresses. Among these stresses, drought is one of the major threat for wheat production as it reduces the yield of wheat crop by an average of 50-60% (Nyaupane et al, 2024). Wheat crop is sensitive to drought, particularly during the flowering and grain development stages, as it impacts yield as well as grain quality The wheat tolerance mechanisms against drought stress are highly complex and are governed by many genes/genomic loci that have major as well as minor effects on the phenotypic traits. Thus, a detail understanding about the underlying mechanisms is essentially required to develop novel wheat genotypes with enhanced tolerance against drought stress. We performed multi-location field trials (3 geographical locations) to evaluate drought tolerance ability of diverse wheat genotypes and identified Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) as a reliable phenotypic tool to identify drought tolerant genotypes (Reddy et al, 2024). Further, GWAS with NDVI at the maturity stage identified eight stable marker trait associations (MTAs; these appear in at least in two environments) associated with drought stress (Figure 1) (Reddy et al., 2023). We further identified 15 candidate genes underlying the stable MTAs. Among 15 candidates identified, TraesCS1B02G308900 is an Aminotransferase class-III, responsible for the accumulation of branch chain amino acid (BCAA), protein was upregulated in response to drought at, both, seedling as well adult plant stage We propose to use precise gene editing technology to generate knockouts of Aminotransferase class-III gene in wheat to understand its role in drought tolerance in wheat. The functional analysis of candidate genes would enlighten our existing knowledge of plant-water relation and would further be used to enhance the drought tolerance in wheat. We propose: Objective 1: Silencing of Aminotransferase class III gene by application of state-of-the art gene editing technology in wheat; Objective 2: Deciphering the action mechanisms of a candidate gene in wheat tolerance against drought stress. The program will provide novel insights into mechanisms of drought tolerance in wheat genotypes. Long-term goal of the proposed work is to develop the much needed modern and precise gene/genome editing tools for wheat so that new genotypes with enhanced drought tolerance can be developed.