Single base hits score a home run in wheat

Finding a way to identify point mutants for a genome in which there are six copies of every gene seems a daunting task, however this has recently been reported. In this research, the redundancy in the wheat genome proved a help instead of a hindrance and the results suggest a promising approach in functional genomics of polyploid crop species. It is now feasible to generate point mutations in all the homologs for a particular gene directly in a polypoid commercial crop variety and then combine them, thus avoiding undesirable, linked traits that often complicate introgressing traits into crops from wild relatives.