Potential unlocked: an atlas of cloned wheat genes for genome engineering and breeding

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) production is increasingly threatened by biotic and abiotic stresses. Developing varieties with improved stress tolerance and desirable end-use qualities is crucial for meeting growing global demand. Genome-editing technologies, particularly Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and CRISPR-associated proteins (CRISPR/Cas)-derived systems, represent powerful tools to accelerate trait discovery and crop improvement. Here, we present a comprehensive atlas of cloned wheat genes and discuss examples and strategies for using it to identify candidate targets for CRISPR/Cas-mediated improvement. Finally, we recommend ways to integrate gene editing into breeding timelines and accelerate the incorporation of desirable alleles.