Epigenetic Factors Identified as Key to Prevent Low Yield in Wheat

Scientists from McGill University in Canada have found that aside from genetic factors, epigenetic factors may provide insights to avoid pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) in wheat. PHS has such important economic repercussions for farmers around the world that scientists have been working on finding a solution to the problem for at least a couple of decades.

The research team from McGill's Department of Plant Science led by Prof. Jaswinder Singh has identified a key gene that acts as a switch to determine how a particular plant will respond to high humidity and excess rainfall by either germinating early (through PHS) or not. This switch is to be found in a key gene, ARGONAUTE4_9, in the "RNA dependent DNA Methylation" pathway (RdDM). The team made the discovery through a variety of genomic and molecular tools to identify specific ARGONAUTE4_9 genes, and then compared the way that these genes are expressed in PHS resistant versus PHS susceptible varieties of wheat.

See McGill University's news release at http://www.mcgill.ca/medicine/channels/news/mcgill-discovery-should-save-wheat-farmers-millions-231037.