The internationally-recognized Wheat Genetics Resource Center is located at Kansas State University, in the heart of the Great Plains of the United States, one of the greatest wheat-growing regions in the world. Germplasm and the scientific method of breeding provide the foundation for bountiful wheat harvests.
The WGRC has three main missions to assure future advances in wheat breeding:
collect, conserve, and utilize germplasm in crop improvement for sustainable production by broadening the crop genetic base,
create and promote the free exchange of materials, technology, and new knowledge in genetics and biotechnology among the world's public and private organizations, and
sponsor graduate and postgraduate students and visiting scientists for academic training and advanced research in the WGRC laboratories.
The WGRC maintains a gene bank, along with evaluation and passport data, on 2,500 wheat species accessions. In addition, the WGRC houses 2,200 cytogenetic stocks, the genetic treasures produced by a lifetime of work by wheat scientists.
The WGRC has established a national and international network to conduct and coordinate genetic studies in wheat. Genes for host-plant resistance to viral, bacterial, fungal, and insect pests and abiotic stresses are identified, transferred to agronomically useful breeding lines, and deployed. The genetic bases of physiological, quality, and yield traits are studied. Chromosome and genetic maps of wheat and other Triticeae genera are developed. Biotechnological research emphasizes diagnostic assays, gene cloning, and plant transformation.
