May 2021: Reduced Height Gene Class curated from the Wheat Gene Catalogue

Reduced Height Gene Class
The following gene class has been updated at GrainGenes, based on the information in the Wheat Gene Catalogue (WGC). This includes all genes, along with any associated alleles, references, loci and germplasm sources.
The development of dwarf and semi-dwarf wheat cultivars was an important factor in the so-called ‘green revolution’ of the 1960s and 1970s. The new varieties are shorter, increase grain yield at the expense of straw biomass, and are more resistant to damage by wind and rain.
The early cultivars developed were shorter as they contained genes which lack responsiveness to the plant growth hormone gibberellin (Peng et al., 1999), but this was found to also have a few deleterious effects. Later, genes were identified which resulted in shortened plants, but maintained the plant’s ability to respond to gibberellin (Würschum et al., 2017). This gene class includes both the gibberellin-insensitive and sensitive genes of wheat.

GA-Insensitive Genes and Alleles
Reduced Height: GA-Insensitive genes at Komugi