Gohar Sasha, Sajjad Muhammad, Zulfiqar Sana, Liu Jiajun, Wu Jiajie, Rahman Mehboob-Ur-
Plant Genomics and Molecular Breeding Laboratory, National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Department of Biotechnology, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), Islamabad, Pakistan.
Front Genet. 2022 Oct 3;13:1022931. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.1022931. eCollection 2022.
Domestication of wheat started with the dawn of human civilization. Since then, improvement in various traits including resistance to diseases, insect pests, saline and drought stresses, grain yield, and quality were improved through selections by early farmers and then planned hybridization after the discovery of Mendel's laws. In the 1950s, genetic variability was created using mutagens followed by the selection of superior mutants. Over the last 3 decades, research was focused on developing superior hybrids, initiating marker-assisted selection and targeted breeding, and developing genetically modified wheat to improve the grain yield, tolerance to drought, salinity, terminal heat and herbicide, and nutritive quality. Acceptability of genetically modified wheat by the end-user remained a major hurdle in releasing into the environment. Since the beginning of the 21 century, changing environmental conditions proved detrimental to achieving sustainability in wheat production particularly in developing countries. It is suggested that high-tech phenotyping assays and genomic procedures together with speed breeding procedures will be instrumental in achieving food security beyond 2050.
小麦的驯化始于人类文明的曙光。从那时起，早期农民通过选择，随后在孟德尔定律被发现后进行有计划的杂交，使得包括抗病、抗虫、耐盐和耐旱胁迫、谷物产量和品质等各种性状得到了改善。20世纪50年代，利用诱变剂创造了遗传变异，随后筛选出优良突变体。在过去30年里，研究集中在培育优良杂交种、启动标记辅助选择和定向育种，以及培育转基因小麦以提高谷物产量、耐旱性、耐盐性、耐热性和耐除草剂性，以及营养品质。转基因小麦被最终用户接受仍然是其向环境释放的一个主要障碍。自21世纪初以来，不断变化的环境条件被证明不利于实现小麦生产的可持续性，特别是在发展中国家。有人建议，高科技表型分析和基因组程序以及快速育种程序将有助于在2050年之后实现粮食安全。
