Gamma mutagenesis to identify diagnostic markers for heat tolerance in wheat

This project focussed on the WtmsDW locus of wheat, which controls natural variation in heat stress tolerance – specifically relating to the pollen sterility caused by heat exposure at the booting stage of development (Erena et al. 2021). The aim was to generate overlapping deletion mutations across the
WtmsDW region on chromosome 2B using gamma irradiation of seeds, to enable more accurate localisation of WtmsDW. This was to allow closer DNA markers to be identified for use by breeders, and help facilitate the identification (cloning) of the WtmsDW heat tolerance gene.