GrainGenes Updates

July 2025: New YouTube video tutorials for contributing projects: WGC at Komugi and MASwheat from UC Davis

The GrainGenes project acquires information primarily from published data, but also relies on curation from other small grains projects.  

Two new YouTube videos were created to highlight these resources.

Wheat Gene Catalogue at Komugi describes the online database from the Wheat Gene Catalog through 2013, an important resource for historical wheat genes and cultivars containing favorable alleles. 

February 2025: Breeders Meta QTL for yield and yield-related traits in barley

25 Breeders Meta QTL from PLoS 19:e0303751 .   Du, et al. (2024) Genome-wide screening of meta-QTL and candidate genes controlling yield and yield-related traits in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

QTL are described for (GMT) grain morphological traits, (GN) grain number, (SRT) spike-related traits, (GW) grain weight, (GY) grain yield, (GPT) growth period traits, (BY) biomass yield, (TN) tiller number, (PH) plant height, (HI) harvest index, (GFRT) grain filling-related traits.

February 2025: Wheat and MASWheat protocols for the small grains compiled on GrainGenes

Protocols from John Innes Center (I. Faci-Gomez and C Uauy) have been contributed to the GrainGenes collection of protocols. These are available at protocols.io and include : 

How to grow wheat

Wheat inflorescence meristem micro-dissection 

Nuclei isolation from wheat meristems

Wheat high molecular weight DNA extraction 

RNA extraction from wheat stigmas 

 

September 2024: 48 genes, 5 QTL, 158 loci from barley papers were curated.

As part of our goal to increase the curation efficiency of reflecting new genes, qtl, etc. for the small grains, GrainGenes is beginning to explore using AI to assist in the curation. To begin, papers are being curated by the human curator (Vic Blake) at GG to provide a training set.
Below are the first of the training papers added to GrainGenes that will be used.

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