Molecular breeding for improving aluminium resistance in wheat.

Abstract

Abstract This chapter aims at describing the main physiological mechanisms associated with aluminium (Al) resistance in wheat and how the research about these mechanisms has evolved to its current status. Practical aspects of phenotyping and using the molecular basis to increase Al resistance, which can be easily introduced in breeding programmes, are detailed. This chapter discusses the reliability of methods to screen root growth under Al stress, the allelic variation of genes associated with the main Al resistance mechanism in wheat, the quantitative trait loci and genomic regions that might contain minor Al tolerance genes, the use of wheat wild relatives, the uncertainties of developing transgenic wheat for greater Al resistance and the development of Al-resistant lines of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. durum).