Wheat genomics: present status and future prospects

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), with a large genome (16000 Mb) and high proportion ( approximately 80%) of repetitive sequences, has been a difficult crop for genomics research. However, the availability of extensive cytogenetics stocks has been an asset, which facilitated significant progress in wheat genomic research in recent years. For instance, fairly dense molecular maps (both genetic and physical maps) and a large set of ESTs allowed genome-wide identification of gene-rich and gene-poor regions as well as QTL including eQTL. The availability of markers associated with major economic traits also allowed development of major programs on marker-assisted selection (MAS) in some countries, and facilitated map-based cloning of a number of genes/QTL. Resources for functional genomics including TILLING and RNA interference (RNAi) along with some new approaches like epigenetics and association mapping are also being successfully used for wheat genomics research. BAC/BIBAC libraries for the subgenome D and some individual chromosomes have also been prepared to facilitate sequencing of gene space. In this brief review, we discuss all these advances in some detail, and also describe briefly the available resources, which can be used for future genomics research in this important crop.