杂交小麦应用是未来提高小麦产量的一种途径，当前部分杂交小麦品种株高的增加在一定程度上加大了其倒伏风险。本研究以两个抗倒伏性不同的杂交组合为试验材料，通过分析不同灌浆时期茎秆相关性状变化、基部第二节间转录组和代谢组数据及基部第二节间木质素合成积累等揭示其抗倒伏差异的形成机制。结果表明，抗倒伏杂交组合茎秆相关性状，如茎秆抗折力、穿刺强度、茎秆充实度及木质素含量（含G和S型单体）均显著高于倒伏敏感性组合。KEGG富集分析表明，灌浆后期差异代谢物和差异表达基因主要被显著富集到苯丙烷生物合成途径。本试验共鉴定了35个参与苯丙烷途径的关键调控基因，其中42%的基因在灌浆后期显著差异表达，且在显著差异表达基因中，超过80%的基因在抗倒伏组合中的表达显著高于其在倒伏敏感组合中的表达，而抗倒伏组合木质素合成途径中松柏醛、阿魏酸和松柏醇等中间代谢物显著低于倒伏敏感组合。综合分析表明，抗倒伏组合灌浆后期仍具有较高抗倒伏能力的关键在于其具有较高的木质素合成能力。本试验还通过对已审定杂交小麦和常规小麦品种的茎秆特征比较，提出了培育抗倒伏杂交小麦组合应关注的茎秆性状。

随着杂交小麦的应用面积逐渐增加，倒伏正在成为其获得高产的主要限制因素之一。然而，关于茎秆相关性状的配合力及其与抗倒伏杂种优势形成的研究较少。本研究，按照不完全双列杂交设计（NCII），以茎秆相关性状显著差异的3个不育系（母本）和8个恢复系（父本）为试验材料，配置24个杂交组合。对基部第二节间长度、基部第二节间抗折力等茎秆相关的8个性状开展主成分分析（PCA）、配合力分析及杂种优势分析。PCA结果表明，8个变量可被提取为两个主要因子，分别为正相关因子（因子1）和负相关因子（因子2），分别解释总变异的52.3％和33.2％。PCA和指标权重分析表明，因子1相关性状在抗倒伏优势形成中起主要作用，研究还表明，茎秆相关性状的遗传以加性效应为主。以恢复系R1，R4，R6及R7与不育系M3配置组合可获得具有较高抗倒伏能力的杂交组合，与其因子2相关性状具有较低的一般配合力效应（GCA），及因子1相关性状具有较高的GCA密切相关。杂种优势分析表明，因子1相关性状（除基部第二节间壁厚外）的GCA或特殊配合力效应（SCA）与抗倒伏杂种优势呈正相关关系。一般而言，抗倒伏杂种优势与不育系因子1相关性状GCA的相关系数显著高于其与恢复系的，此外，不育系因子1相关性状具有更高的方差值，表明，在配置杂交组合时应特别关注不育系因子1相关性状的选择。遗传分析表明，基部第二节间直径和重心高度的狭义遗传力明显低于其他性状（<60％），表明，在亲本选育时这两个性状适合在高世代进行选择。这些发现可为亲本选育和抗倒伏杂种优势的利用提供理论依据。

Because of the yield increase of 3.5–15% compared to conventional wheat, hybrid wheat is considered to be one of the main ways to greatly improve the wheat yield in the future.  In this study, we performed a principal component analysis (PCA) on two-line hybrids wheat and their parents using the grain weight (GW), the length of spike (LS), the kernel number of spike (KSN), and spike number (SPN) as variables.  The results showed that the variables could be classified into three main factors, the weight factor (factor 1), the quantity factor 1 (factor 2) and the quantity factor 2 (factor 3), which accounted for 37.1, 22.6 and 18.5%, respectively of the total variance in different agronomic variables, suggesting that the GW is an important indicator for evaluating hybrid combinations, and the grain weight of restorer line (RGW) could be used as a reference for parents selection.  The hybrid combination with a higher score in factor 1 direction and larger mid-parent heterosis (MPH) of the GW and its parents were used to carry out the analysis of grain filling, 1-aminocylopropane-1-carboxylicacid (ACC) and polyamine synthesis related genes.  The results suggested that the GW of superior grain was significantly higher than that of inferior grains in BS1453×JS1 (H) and its parents.  Both grain types showed a weight of H between BS1453 (M) and JS1(R), and a larger MPH, which may be caused by their differences in the active filling stage and the grain filling rate.  The ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase), granule bound starch synthase I (GBSSI), starch synthase III (SSS), and starch branching enzyme-I (SBE-I) expression levels of H were intermediated between M and R, which might be closely related to MPH formation of the GW.  Compared with R and H, the GW of M at maturity was the lowest.  The expression levels of spermidine synthase 2 (Spd2), ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (SAMDC) had significantly positive correlations with the grain filling rate (r=0.77*, 0.51*, 0.59*), suggesting their major roles in the grain filling and heterosis formation.  These provide a theoretical basis for improving the GW of photo-thermo-sensitive male sterile lines (PTSMSL) by changing the endogenous polyamine synthesis in commercial applications.

Assessment of variety distinctness is important for both the registration and the protection of particular variety. However, the current testing system, which assesses a range of morphological characters of each pair of varieties grown side-by-side, is time-consuming and is not suitable for the assessment of hundreds of samples. The objective of this study was to develop a procedure for the assessment of wheat variety distinctness using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. A comparison between the molecular and morphological profile of 797 varieties was made. On the basis of the comparison, pairs of varieties with a genetic similarity value (GSV) ≤90% were deemed to be distinct, accounting for ~85% of varieties assessed in wheat regional trials. For the remaining ~15% of varieties, GSVs between different varieties were >90%, among which ~35% were not distinct and the other ~65% were distinct. Therefore, if given a GSV>90%, the pairs of varieties should be morphologically assessed in the field. To avoid any errors in the assessments, we proposed the elimination of contaminant plants from the sample before comparing the varietal genotypes, scoring of the genotype at each locus with a pair of allele numbers when constructing a molecular profile, and faithfully recording two alleles at a non-homozygous locus. To reduce the workload and cost, a three-grade markers comparison among varieties is suggested. In addition, 80 SSR markers and a technical procedure for assessment of wheat variety distinctness have been proposed. Based on the procedure, the distinctness assessment of ~85% of all wheat varieties is completed in our laboratory annually. Consequently, total field assessment has been reduced considerably.

Mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPK) cascades based on protein phosphorylation play an important role in plant growth and development. In this study, we have identified 15 putative members of the wheat MAPK gene (TaMPK) family through an in silico search of wheat expressed sequence tags (EST) databases based on the presence of amino acid sequence of Arabidopsis and rice MAPKs. Phylogenetic analyses of MAPKs from wheat, rice and Arabidopsis genomes have classified them into seven subgroups (A, B, C, D, E, F, and G). Using the available EST information as a source of expression data, the MAPK family genes from Triticum aestivum were detected in diverse tissues. Further expression analysis of the MAPKs in NCBI EST database revealed that their transcripts were most abundant in callus (20%), followed by leaf (12%) and inflorescence (12%). Most MAPK family genes showed some tissue specificity.