2026 WGRC Publications

Dvorak, J., Xiao, M., Wang, L., Debernardi, J., Deal, K., Zhu, T., Luo, M.C., McGuire, P., Akhunov, E., He, F., Lev-Mirom, Y., Eilam, T., Distelfeld, A., Zhou, Y., Muller, H.G., & Dubcovsky, J. (2026). Isolation of the major wheat domestication gene Tenacious glume1 reveals its multiple phenotypic effects and sheds light on evolution of wheat. Nature. PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9315249/v1]

Danilova, T.V., Friebe, B., & Akhunov, E. (2026). Chromosome structure of wild wheat relative Aegilops uniaristata (Triticeae). Cytogenetic and Genome Research. https://doi.org/10.1159/000550462

Rottersman, M.G., Laudencia-Chingcuanco, D., Zhang, W., Guzman-Lopez, M.H., Lin, J.W., Zhang, J., Caseys, C., Burguener, G., Kim, S., Zhang, X., Yunusbaev, U., Akhunov, E., Lee, J.Y., & Dubcovsky, J. (2026). A genetic toolkit to reduce wheat immunogenicity and incidence of celiac disease. bioRxiv, (2026.06), 23.734071. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.06.23.734071

Tessele, A., Morris, G., Akhunov, E., Johnson, B., Clinesmith, M., Hope, A.C., & Fritz, A. (2026). Interchromosomal linkage disequilibrium analysis reveals strong indications of sign epistasis in wheat breeding families. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 16(1), jkaf265. https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkaf265

Meeting Abstracts/Presentations

Campos, G.R., Davidson, D., Fritz, A., Nyine, M. & Akhunov, E. (2026 June 15) Phenomic prediction models for wheat grain yield in Aegilops tauschii introgression germplasm using multi-temporal UAV images across multiple environments [Poster]. National Association for Plant Breeding, College Station, TX. https://napbannualmeeting.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026_NAPB_Event_Booklet_Digital_VF-3.pdf

Knight, J., Fritz, A., Akhunov, E. & Rupp-Noller, J. (2026 June 15) Ancestral Germplasm As a Source of Fusarium Head Blight Resistance in Bread Wheat [Poster]. National Association for Plant Breeding, College Station, TX. https://napbannualmeeting.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026_NAPB_Event_Booklet_Digital_VF-3.pdf

Stelling, N., Osae, B., Davidson, D., Winnie, S., Fritz, A., & Akhunov, E. (2026 June 15) Root System Architecture Trait Discovery in Aegilops tauschii Introgression Population [Poster]. National Association for Plant Breeding, College Station, TX. https://napbannualmeeting.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026_NAPB_Event_Booklet_Digital_VF-3.pdf

Akhunov, E. (2026 May 27) Historical genomics of host-pathogen interaction in wheat rust pathosystem. In S. Dreissigacker & C. Pozniak (Chairs), Innovative Wheat Breeding [Keynote Lecture] 4th International Wheat Congress, Bologna, Italy. https://www.iwc2026.com/day-three-may-27-2026/

Koo, D., Ju. Y., Yunusbaev, U., Campos, G. R., Liakh, E., Fritz, A., Akhunova, A., & Akhunov, E. (2026 Jan. 11) Harnessing Chromosome 5Mg of Aegilops geniculata to Induce Genome-Wide Homoeologous Recombination between Wheat and Its Wild Relatives. In C. Hiebert (Chair), Gene Introgression [Oral Presentation] Plant and Animal Genome 33, San Diego, CA. https://plan.core-apps.com/pag33/event/1aa5e65ded9481b513800bcf713be7f6

Ju, Y., Yunusbaev, U., Sathishraj, R., Akhunov, E., & Koo, D.H. (2026 Jan. 12) Novel Wheat-Barley Robertsonian Translocation Lines for Broadening Allelic Diversity in Wheat [Poster]. Plant and Animal Genome 33, San Diego, CA.

Li, Y., Zurn, J., & Akhunov, E. (2026 Jan. 12) Dual-function kinase–transcription factor fusion protein underlies wheat immunity to stem rust [Poster]. Plant and Animal Genome 33, San Diego, CA.

Maccaferri, M., Forestan, C., Ens, J., Farooq, M.A., Bozzoli, M., Colombo, M., Mazzucotelli, E., Faccioli, P., Giorgioni, M., Pancaldi, L., Cappucci, C., Fengler, K., Llaca, V., Wiebe, K., Pirona, R., Ceriotti, A., Toegelova, H., Tafuri, A., Pasquale, L.C., Faris, J.D., Sonnante, G., Pecchioni, N., Steven, X, Chantret, N., Taner, Z.S., Walkowiak, S., Šimková, H., Distelfeld, A., Harmeet, S. C., Gadaleta, A., Akhunov, E., Copetti, D., Hall, A., Spannagl, M., Zastrow-Hayes, G., Sestili, F., Masci, S., Morgante, M., Cattivelli, L., Salvi, S., Pozniak, C., & Tuberosa, R. (2026 Jan. 12). Genetic Resources In Use: The Case of Tetraploid Wheat. the Global Durum Genomic Resource (GDGR), theTetraploid Core Collection (TCC) and the Tetraploid WheatPangenome. [Poster]. Plant and Animal Genome 33, San Diego, CA.

Sahin, B., Wang, M., Zurn, J., Xu, X., Bai, G., Akhunova, A., chen, X., & Akhunov, E. (2026 Jan. 12) Genetic architecture and evolution of stripe rust resistance uncovered using diverse panels of wheat lines and North America Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici isolates [Poster]. Plant and Animal Genome 33, San Diego, CA.

Yu, Z., Akhunova, A., Bai, G., Trick, H., & Akhunov, E. (2026 Jan. 12) CRISPR/Cas9 Engineered Cis-Regulatory Variants of GRF4 in Wheat Affect Yield and Protein Content By Modulating Nitrogen and Carbon Metabolism [Poster]. Plant and Animal Genome 33, San Diego, CA.

Zurn, J. D., Yunusbaev, U., Liakh, E., He, F., Guo, Y., Wang, W., Koo, D.H., Akhunova, A., Rouse, M.N., & Akhunov, E. (2026 Jan. 12) The Global Genomic Landscape of Wheat-Wheat Stem Rust Resistance Interactions Originates from a Complex Ancestry of Wheat and Wild Wheat Relatives [Poster]. Plant and Animal Genome 33, San Diego, CA.