SCIENTISTS at the University of Liverpool have been awarded £1.7m to decode the DNA of wheat to help farmers increase its yield.
They will analyse the genome of five types of wheat using new DNA sequencing technology to gene-rate tools to help breeders select traits such as high producti-vity for their crop.
The one-year research programme will highlight natural genetic variation between wheat types to significantly speed up current breeding programmes.
The wheat genome is more than five times larger than the human genome, so this is one of the most ambitious DNA sequencing projects undertaken to date.”
