this specimen, which was collected on captain cook s first voyage to australia. oh, wow, you can see the dates, can t you? every wheat specimen is painstakingly examined and photographed, and 1,500 of them will have their genomes sequenced. because the collection spans also across time, across 300 years, we have specimens that are from before the introduction of various agricultural techniques, so they can tell us something about how wheat was growing wild, or before things like artificial fertilisers. the project will take months to complete. ah, so here we are. at thejohn innes centre in norwich, they re also shining a light on the past. i wanted to show you these old herbarium sheets. their samples go back 100 years and they re looking to crossbreed these older plants with today s varieties. and what we want to do is look for new and useful genetic variation. so disease resistance, stress resistance, increased yield.
with today s varieties. and what we want to do is look for new and useful genetic variation. so disease resistance, stress resistance, increased yield. they ve already started some field trials. it s essential to find solutions. climate change and the extreme weather it brings is reducing the amount we can grow globally. and pests and diseases are a big problem, too. one fifth of the projected yield is lost to them each year. there s a very important disease of wheat, which is a global problem called yellow rust, and that has been increasingly difficult to control and defend wheat against. within this collection of old wheat, there are new resistances to that disease which stand up against this disease. and they re being deployed by breeders right now to defend this really important threat to wheat production. the wheat we grow is going to have to change.
this specimen, which was collected on captain cook s first voyage to australia. oh, wow, you can see the dates, can t you? every wheat specimen is painstakingly examined and photographed, and 1,500 of them will have their genomes sequenced. because the collection spans also across time, across 300 years, we have specimens that are from before the introduction of various agricultural techniques, so they can tell us something about how wheat was growing wild, or before things like artificial fertilisers. the project will take months to complete. ah, so here we are. at thejohn innes centre in norwich, they re also shining a light on the past. i wanted to show you these old herbarium sheets. their samples go back 100 years and they re looking to crossbreed these older plants with today s varieties. and what we want to do is look for new and useful genetic variation. so disease resistance,
People don’t randomly select who they have children with. And that means an underlying assumption in research that tries to link particular genes to certain diseases or traits is wrong.