This first Wheat GEMS mini symposium will bring together leading experts in wheat genetics, microbiome and soil science. Providing an overview of the science, and the cutting edge phenotyping approaches with the aim of building a research platform that will advance sustainable agriculture and environmental and human health.

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Programme

12:30 Introduction to the WISH-ROOTS project. Maria Hernandez-Soriano (John Innes Centre, UK)

12:45 The interactions between plants and root microbiomes. Yang Bai (IGDB-CAS, China)

1:00 Wheat resources available in the Germplasm Resources Unit at JIC. Simon Orford (Germplasm Resource Unit, JIC, UK) 

1:15 1001 Bread Wheat Genomes. Watkins: Genotype 2 phenotype and breeding (G2P&B). Luzie Wingen (JIC, UK)

1:30 Digging out root phenotypes and genes in cereal crops. Silvio Salvi (University of Bologna, Italy)

2:00 Diversity in root traits exposed by semi-controlled phenotyping. Josefine Kant (Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany):

2:15 Diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) as a potential tool to phenotype biological nitrification inhibition in the wheat rhizosphere. Erik Smolders (KULeuven, Belgium)

2:30 Influence of cultivation practices on soil respiration and microbial composition. Michael Kidson (ARC-LNR, South Africa)

2:45 Microbiome supervised machine learning models applied to agriculture. Alberto Acedo (Biome Makers Inc., Spain)  

3:00 Coffee break 

3:15 Transcriptomics for Gene Discovery in Wheat. Philippa Borril (JIC, UK) 

3:30 Genomics-Driven Discovery of Clustered Biosynthetic Pathways for Defense-Related Molecules in Bread Wheat. Guy Polturak (JIC, UK) 

3:45 Wheat genomics. Cristobal Uauy (JIC, UK)

4:00 Improved tools for genome editing. Wendy Harwood (JIC, UK)

4:15 Title TBC. Robert Davey (Earlham Institute, UK)

4:30 Introduction to the Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development. Peter Emmrich (Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development, UK)

4:45 Exploring the Critical Role of Water in Regenerative Agriculture; Building Promises and Avoiding Pitfalls. Bruce Lankford (University of East Anglia, UK)

5:00 Interplay of soil fungi and bacteria: Measuring soil bacteria, fungi and genes from shallow metagenomic sequencing. Fred Warren (Quadram Institute Bioscience, UK)

5:15 Title TBC. Falk Hildebrand (Quadram Institute Bioscience, UK)

5:30 Break followed by general discussion and breakout meetings

6:15 Closing remarks