Identification of genetic regulators of photosynthetic carbon storage in wheat

Improving the yield of crops will be necessary if the rising global crop demand is to be met. The majority of research to improve wheat yield has focused on improving the crop's photosynthetic efficiency. In this project, improving wheat yield will be investigated from a different perspective: regulation of growth and the allocation of the products of photosynthesis to growth versus storage. During the day, plants photosynthesise. The products of photosynthesis are partitioned between sucrose, which is either kept in the leaf or exported to other parts of the plant to be used for instant growth, or starch. At night, starch is degraded to allow growth in the absence of light. It is understood that starch degradation in Arabidopsis occurs linearly and is at least in part under circadian control. This is because the rate of starch degradation adapts to the length of the night to ensure that the starch reserves are not depleted before dawn. Correct utilisation of starch reserves has been linked to optimal growth at night making this area of research important to improving yield. In this project, a variety of approaches will be used to transfer knowledge gained in Arabidopsis to wheat. Genetic approaches will allow the determination of genetic linkage to allocation traits while biochemical techniques will be used to investigate the diel changes in starch and sugars. This project seeks to investigate improving the yield of an important crop plant from a novel perspective.