March 9, 2023

Researchers in China find recessive virus-resistant wheat gene

Chinese researchers have found a gene that can improve resistance to wheat yellow mosaic disease, a disease that results in significant yield losses in agricultural crops, China Daily reported.

China has a high prevalence of the wheat yellow mosaic disease, which is brought on by the wheat yellow mosaic virus, a soil-borne virus (WYMV).

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Institute of Crop Science used genome-editing technology to create wheat editing material by silencing the TaeIF4E translation initiation factor gene and cultivating its single, double, and triple mutant varieties.

According to the study, only the triple mutant variety completely resisted WYMV infection and displayed normal seed germination with no loss of yield. The growth and seed setting of the single and double mutant varieties were severely stunted.

The study concluded that TaeIF4E takes part in WYMV infection as a susceptibility factor gene, highlighting the possibility of engineering virus resistance in wheat by genome editing of this gene among major wheat varieties.

The study was published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.

-      China Daily