Researchers identified a wheat gene that acts as a reproductive traffic cop and which can be used to transfer valuable genes from other plants to wheat, says Washington State University. The discovery “clears the way for breeders to develop wheat varieties with the disease- and pest-resistance of other grasses…while forgoing the cost, regulatory hurdles and controversy of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs,” says a WSU release.
With the gene identified, researchers will use their knowledge to transfer a gene from jointed goatgrass, a relative of wheat, to gain resistance to the wheat stripe fungus, the most economically damaging wheat pathogen in the world. It cost U.S. growers $100 million in 2012.