DSW ISP

Isolation of durum wheat mutants defective in SS3a or SS3b.

SS3 in wheat starch granule initiation

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
by Ding et al.

@WileyPlantSci #PlantScience @johninnescentre.bsky.social

PRESS RELEASE - Rapid response launched to tackle new yellow rust strains threatening UK wheat

Fifty percent of the UK’s wheat is under threat from a newly identified strain of the yellow rust pathogen, due to the breakdown of a key resistance gene, Yr15

www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...

1/ 🧵 (cont)

Front cover of The Plant Cell journal showing a spatial visualisation of wheat spike tips, with multi-coloured dots indicating gene expression patterns across the spike.

Great to see our recent study with @johninnescentre.bsky.social make the cover of January's @theplantcell.bsky.social! 🌟

Well done to Ashleigh Lister, Katie Long, and the whole research team from Earlham Institute, JIC, and @vizgen.bsky.social!

Check out the paper here: buff.ly/QN57HXG

January 2026, The Plant Cell cover

We made the front cover of @theplantcell.bsky.social!

Huge congratulations to co-first authors @katielong.bsky.social and Ashleigh Lister, corresponding author @cristobaluauy.bsky.social and everyone at JIC, @earlhaminst.bsky.social and @vizgen.bsky.social who collaborated on this exciting work 👏

INDETERMINATE DOMAIN–DELLA protein interactions orchestrate gibberellin-mediated cell elongation in wheat and barley | PNAS DELLA proteins, members of the GRAS-domain family of transcriptional regulators, play a crucial role in plant growth and development. They modulate...

📢New paper: Our collaborators at @rothamsted.bsky.social have identified transcription factors in wheat and barley that act downstream of the Green Revolution genes to regulate plant height.

Read the full paper @pnas.org
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Family of genes that rule growth, grain development in wheat identified Rothamsted scientists have uncovered how a family of genes in wheat fine-tunes the plant’s growth and grain development.

Family of genes that rule growth, grain development in wheat identified www.agriland.ie/farming-news...

Spatial transcriptomics reveals expression gradients in developing wheat inflorescences at cellular resolution High-resolution spatial transcriptomics reveals coordinated gene expression patterns that define spikelet and floral development in wheat.

Spatial transcriptomics reveals expression gradients in developing wheat inflorescences at cellular resolution (Katie A Long , Ashleigh Lister , Maximillian R W Jones , et al) doi.org/10.1093/plce... #PlantScience @aspbofficial

PRESS RELEASE - Innovations in spatial imaging could unlock higher wheat yields

Researchers at the John Innes Centre and @earlhaminst.bsky.social are pioneering powerful single-cell visualisation techniques that could unlock higher yields of global wheat 🌾

www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...

Our new preprint is out on bioRxiv!
A regulation-compliant infrared heating system for UK field trials 🌾🔥

doi.org/10.64898/202...

Here’s what it looked like ↓

A whole developing wheat spike in spatial resolution at 1mm scale. Blue staining represents fluorescent staining for DNA withing the nuclei. There are different coloured spots showing gene expression detected using the probes in a method called MERFISH on Earlham institute's Vizgen MERSCOPE platform.

Senior Research Assistant and study co-first author Ashleigh Lister delivers training on using the vizgen Merscope on non-model systems

Close up image of inside the Vizgen Merscope, scientist wearing white lab coat and blue safety gloves handles the inner cartridge of the platform.

💬 "A lot of the methods I used in this paper have previously only applied to mammals, but by pushing the technical capabilities to allow for non-model species we can answer a wider variety of research questions."

Innovations in #spatial imaging could unlock higher wheat yields
👉 buff.ly/a5nWTXx

💻🧬

She reflects on the value of collaboration in achieving strategic aims, and how this event is vital in bringing the wheat research community together: www.jic.ac.uk/blog/from-ce...

@earlhaminst.bsky.social @quadraminstitute.bsky.social 🌾

The Wheat transformation and gene editing team from the John Innes Centre, and the Crop Transformation and Genome Editing Unit from Rothamsted Research, worked together to create a science showcase about genome editing in wheat.

We had the opportunity to taste white bread made from high fibre wheat developed through work in DSW.

Sue Steele, science administrator at Rothamsted Research, and Roger Berwick, science support administrator at the John Innes Centre, organisers of the event, ready to welcome DSW members.

The Germplasm Resources Unit brought along ears from diverse wheat and wheat relatives.

BLOG - From cereal killers to high-fibre bread: the importance of networking in the wheat research community

Dr Eleri Tudor, Delivering Sustainable Wheat Programme Manager, attended the @dsw-isp.bsky.social Institute Strategic Programme annual meeting @rothamsted.bsky.social earlier this year 👇

@earlhaminst.bsky.social @johninnescentre.bsky.social @quadraminstitute.bsky.social @rothamsted.bsky.social

Excited for a second #GreenHorizons training session with undergrads on #PlantScience that feeds the world! Today we’ll learn about the new tools that are transforming plant breeding, and what the future could look like for wheat. 🌾 🌱 #STEMCareers #FutureOfFood

#GreenHorizons #PlantScience #FoodSecurity #FutureOfFood #STEMCareers

Followed by our fantastic careers panel of DSW members past and present - sharing their career journeys and inspiring the next generation of plant scientists 🌾🌱

We were delighted to be joined by Professor Richard Flavell who spoke about his experience "joining the race to feed the world". 🌾🧑‍🔬🥼

We're still buzzing after yesterday’s session with 95 amazing students diving into plant science, food security, and sustainability. Their enthusiasm and questions show that the next generation of scientists is ready to make a difference. 🌾🌱

We’ll explore how plant science underpins global food security - from improving crop resilience to supporting sustainability and innovation in agriculture. Here’s to inspiring the next generation of plant scientists! 🌱👩‍🔬

🌾 Excited for today’s training session with undergraduates exploring food security, wheat research & careers in plant science. #GreenHorizons #PlantScience #FoodSecurity #WheatResearch #Sustainability #STEMCareers #FutureOfFood

Team JIC are having a cracking time in the “Future of Farm and Agriculture” @farmersweeklyuk.bsky.social zone at New Scientist Live @newscientist.com this weekend 🌟🌾

We’re here on Monday too - come along and see stomata down a microscope and our wonderful wheat varieties!!

@dsw-isp.bsky.social

New software tool MARTi fast-tracks identification and response to microbial threats. Scientists at the Earlham Institute introduce MARTi, a powerful new tool for the real-time analysis of nanopore metagenomics.

“MARTi has its origins in software we developed for really rapid identification of #pathogens in preterm infants, but we’ve since adapted it to use in a wide range of settings...including in agriculture, and biosurveillance..."

A powerful new tool for real-time analysis of #nanopore #metagenomics 👇

Super excited to see our bioRxiv paper out! It furthers our understanding of an FHB resistance locus in timopheevii with some DON resistance too!

New software tool MARTi fast-tracks identification and response to microbial threats. An open-source software tool that powers real-time analysis and visualisation of metagenomic data

💬 “It’s operationally very lightweight, you can use it in-field for taxonomic classification on a standard laptop, or undertake larger, complex analysis using HPC.”

💻🧬 Scientists at Earlham Institute introduce MARTi, a new tool for real-time #nanopore #metagenomics.

@genomeresearch.bsky.social

High fibre white flour developed at Rothamsted passes the taste test - Genetic differences in wheat varieties have been used to develop lines with naturally higher dietary fibre - and bread fans love it! 🍞👍 @uniofreading.bsky.social
Full story 👇
www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/high-fi...

Combatting wheat take-all disease with in-field and synthetic microbial communities

PhD studentship
Come help us understand the wheat rhizosphere at the Earlham Institute 🦠

Working at the interface of fungal antagonists & pathogens (@rowenahill.bsky.social @neilhall.bsky.social ), host genetic diversity (Simon Griffiths -JIC) and bacterial community diversity (Jacob Malone -JIC)

With partners @ibotcz.bsky.social Rothamsted has uncovered how a family of genes that regulate plant hormones in wheat fine-tunes the plant’s growth and grain development - could help breeders produce bigger harvests. 🧬🌱
Full story 👇
www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/key-whe...

New wheat diversity discovery could provide an urgently-needed solution to global food security Newly-discovered diversity in the wheat genome could offer vital new opportunities to improve and ‘climate-proof’ one of the world’s most important staple crops.

📃 New research published today in @natcomms.nature.com from the Earlham Institute and @helmholtzmunich.bsky.social presents the first wheat pan-transcriptome - revealing layers of hidden diversity spanning our modern wheat variations. 🧪

➡️ buff.ly/ZDIRnFW

@wheatinitiative.bsky.social @ukri.org

BLOG - Women in wheat event provides training to address gender bias in wheat research

This July saw the latest #WomenInWheat event, where 25 early career women researchers attended a JIC training event focused on addressing gender bias in the UK and internationally

www.jic.ac.uk/blog/women-i...

DSW Newsletter July 2025 🌱🌾