Biosystematics and Breeding Application in Triticeae Species

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Genetics, Genomics and Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 372

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Triticeae Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Interests: Triticeae biosystematics; germplasm innovation; gene mining and cloning

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Triticeae Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Interests: wheat breeding; disease resistance; gene cloning; resistance mechanism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Triticeae tribe (Poaceae), encompassing staple crops such as wheat (Triticum aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), and rye (Secale cereale), accounts for over 30% of global calorie intake. Its wild relatives (e.g., Aegilops, Thinopyrum) represent invaluable genetic reservoirs for enhancing disease resistance, stress tolerance, and yield-related traits. However, the evolutionary relationships within this tribe remain complex and inadequately understood, hindering the systematic exploitation of its genetic resources. Recent advances in high-throughput sequencing, phylogenomics, and cytogenetic technologies provide unprecedented tools to decode Triticeae’s evolutionary history and translate these insights into breeding innovations. This Special Issue, titled ‘Biosystematics and Breeding Application in Triticeae Species’, seeks to bridge the gap between evolutionary biology and applied agricultural research, fostering interdisciplinary approaches to harness the tribe’s potential for sustainable crop improvement.

Key challenges include chromosomal mismatches in alien gene introgression, linkage drag, and insufficient genomic frameworks for germplasm prioritization. Climate change and pathogen evolution further underscore the urgency to diversify genetic resources. This Special Issue invites original research, reviews, and methodological perspectives that advance our understanding of Triticeae biosystematics and its practical applications. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  1. Phylogenetic and population genomic analyses of Triticeae species.
  2. Strategies for the introgression and utilization of alien germplasm in wheat breeding.
  3. High-throughput identification, functional validation, and comprehensive omics analyses of elite alien genes.
  4. Genomic and cytogenetic tools for tracing chromosomal evolution, recombination hotspots, and structural variations.
  5. Sustainable strategies for conserving and exploiting Triticeae genetic resources.
  6. Successful examples of trait transfer from wild Triticeae species to cultivated wheat, with emphasis on field performance and stability.

Dr. Houyang Kang
Dr. Yinghui Li
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Triticeae biosystematics
  • alien germplasm
  • gene mining
  • chromosome engineering
  • resource conservation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

24 pages, 5910 KiB  
Article
Transcriptome Profiling of Spike Development Reveals Key Genes and Pathways Associated with Early Heading in Wheat–Psathyrstachys huashanica 7Ns Chromosome Addition Line
by Binwen Tan, Yangqiu Xie, Hang Peng, Miaomiao Wang, Wei Zhu, Lili Xu, Yiran Cheng, Yi Wang, Jian Zeng, Xing Fan, Lina Sha, Haiqin Zhang, Peng Qin, Yonghong Zhou, Dandan Wu, Yinghui Li and Houyang Kang
Plants 2025, 14(13), 2077; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14132077 - 7 Jul 2025
Viewed by 264
Abstract
Developing early-heading wheat cultivars is an important breeding strategy to utilize light and heat resources, facilitate multiple-cropping systems, and enhance annual grain yield. Psathyrostachys huashanica Keng (2n = 2x = 14, NsNs) possesses numerous agronomically beneficial traits for wheat improvement, such [...] Read more.
Developing early-heading wheat cultivars is an important breeding strategy to utilize light and heat resources, facilitate multiple-cropping systems, and enhance annual grain yield. Psathyrostachys huashanica Keng (2n = 2x = 14, NsNs) possesses numerous agronomically beneficial traits for wheat improvement, such as early maturity and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study, we found that a cytogenetically stable wheat–P. huashanica 7Ns disomic addition line showed (9–11 days) earlier heading and (8–10 days) earlier maturation than its wheat parents. Morphological observations of spike differentiation revealed that the 7Ns disomic addition line developed distinctly faster than its wheat parents from the double ridge stage. To explore the potential molecular mechanisms underlying the early heading, we performed transcriptome analysis at four different developmental stages of the 7Ns disomic addition line and its wheat parents. A total of 10,043 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified during spike development. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis showed that these DEGs were linked to the carbohydrate metabolic process, photosynthesis, response to abscisic acid, and the ethylene-activated signaling pathway. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis showed that these DEGs were involved in plant hormone signal transduction (ARF, AUX/IAA, SAUR, DELLA, BRI1, and ETR), starch and sucrose metabolism (SUS1 and TPP), photosynthetic antenna proteins (Lhc), and circadian rhythm (PRR37, FT, Hd3a, COL, and CDF) pathways. In addition, several DEGs annotated as transcription factors (TFs), such as bHLH, bZIP, MADS-box, MYB, NAC, SBP, WRKY, and NF-Y, may be related to flowering time. Our findings reveal spike development-specific gene expression and critical regulatory pathways associated with early heading in the wheat–P. huashanica 7Ns addition line, and provide a new genetic resource for further dissection of the molecular mechanisms underlying the heading date in wheat. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosystematics and Breeding Application in Triticeae Species)
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