Professor Keith Edwards and Dr Gary Barker awarded wheat breeding research grant

21 February 2011

The £1.5 million grant is part of a £7 million LoLa (Longer and Larger) award from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

A £1.5million grant for research into the next generation of molecular markers in wheat has been awarded to Professor Keith Edwards and Dr Gary Barker of the University of Bristol.

The grant is part of a £7 million LoLa (Longer and Larger) award from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to several partners including the John Innes Institute, Rothamsted Research, the National Institute of Botany and Nottingham University.

The research will increase the diversity of traits available in wheat via a comprehensive pre-breeding programme – the first of its kind in the UK in over 20 years. This project will play an important role in ensuring the sustainability of wheat production in the UK and beyond at a time when we are facing a growing global population and changing environment.

This project will identify new and useful genetic variation from ancient sources of wheat germplasm to accelerate the genetic improvement of modern UK wheat for the benefit of UK farming.

Through free and open international collaboration, including the coordination of similar initiatives currently being planned across the world, the resources and knowledge generated in this project will contribute to global food security.

The Bristol team will be responsible for producing the next generation of molecular markers which are essential for UK breeders to develop new wheat varieties capable of generating high yields in the face of climate change.

The award to Professor Edwards and Dr Barker follows on from their recent, widely reported, announcement of the first public release of sequence covering 95 per cent of the wheat genome.

Professor Edwards said: “This award comes at a time when global food security is seen as one of the most immediate issues facing the human race. We hope this award will enable UK researchers and breeders to work together to develop and deliver new varieties of wheat that should enhance the UK’s capacity to feed its increasing population and make an appropriate contribution to the growing problem facing the human race.”