Harnessing Genomics Approaches for Heat Stress Resilience in Wheat: From Discovery to Deployment

Anu Chitikineni; Farkhandah Jan; Dinesh Kumar Saini; Mukesh Rathore; Dion Bennett; Zhong-Hua Chen; Richard Harper; Liu Xin; Rajeev K Varshney; Reyazul Rouf Mir

doi:10.1093/jxb/erag226

Back

Harnessing Genomics Approaches for Heat Stress Resilience in Wheat: From Discovery to Deployment

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Harnessing Genomics Approaches for Heat Stress Resilience in Wheat: From Discovery to Deployment

Anu Chitikineni, Farkhandah Jan, Dinesh Kumar Saini, Mukesh Rathore, Dion Bennett, Zhong-Hua Chen, Richard Harper, Liu Xin, Rajeev K Varshney and Reyazul Rouf Mir

Journal of experimental botany, erag226

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erag226

PMID: 42150811

Files and links (1)

pdf

Pre-Proof1.74 MBDownload View

Open Access CC BY V4.0

Abstract

Gene editing

Heat stress tolerance

Genetic resources

Epigenetic regulation

Wheat

Multi-omics

QTL mapping

Global warming poses a critical threat to wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production, particularly during sensitive reproductive stages. This review synthesizes current understanding of how heat stress affects wheat and the adaptive mechanisms that confer tolerance, with emphasis on recent advances in genomics and biotechnology. Heat stress impairs morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular processes, reducing photosynthetic efficiency, accelerating senescence, disrupting assimilate partitioning, and damaging cellular structures. Adaptive responses include optimized water relations, antioxidant defences, osmolyte accumulation, heat shock protein induction, and hormonal regulation, all coordinated by complex gene networks. Advances in genetic dissection through QTL mapping, genome-wide association studies, and candidate gene discovery have identified loci and alleles linked to thermotolerance. Multi-omics integration has uncovered regulatory pathways, transcription factors, and epigenetic mechanisms, including stress memory, that underpin resilience. Emerging tools such as genome sequencing, pangenomics, genomic prediction, haplotype-informed breeding, and CRISPR-based editing are accelerating the translation of these discoveries into improved cultivars. In addition to summarizing these advances, this review highlights key challenges, from harmonizing heat-stress phenotyping and validating causal variants to integrating multi-omics into breeding pipelines, and proposes targeted strategies to bridge the gap between discovery and deployment to enable the development of climate-ready wheat cultivars.

Details

Title: Harnessing Genomics Approaches for Heat Stress Resilience in Wheat: From Discovery to Deployment
Authors/Creators: Anu Chitikineni - Murdoch University
Farkhandah Jan - Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir
Dinesh Kumar Saini - Texas Tech University
Mukesh Rathore - Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir
Dion Bennett - Medical Technologies (Czechia)
Zhong-Hua Chen - The University of Adelaide
Richard Harper - Murdoch University
Liu Xin - BGI Group (China)
Rajeev K Varshney - Murdoch University
Reyazul Rouf Mir - Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir
Publication Details: Journal of experimental botany, erag226
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Identifiers: 991005883831407891
Murdoch Affiliation: School of Agricultural Sciences; Food Futures Institute
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#12 Responsible Consumption & Production

Source: SDGs in the Output

Metrics

4 Record Views