Precision breeding in wheat mediated by engineered haploid inducers

• Term: 3 years, beginning in 2018

• Status: Ongoing

• Funding Amount: $110,000

• Lead Researcher(s): John Laurie (Agriculture and Agri Food Canada)

• Funding Partners: Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC)

Project Description

The main focus of this project is to develop a simple and reliable method of gene editing in wheat and to improve on the current method being used by wheat breeders to produce doubled haploids.

In Wheat breeding, one method that currently takes years off the breeding process is doubled haploid (DH) production through the maize pollination method, in which the immature embryo has to be rescued to allow further development and recovery. The goal of the proposed research is to improve seed viability following crossing by attempting to remove the endosperm block and to bring gene editing to the wheat DH production pipeline.