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Katherine L. D. Running

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Open access Jul 2026

A reference-grade chromosome-level genome assembly of a historically important U.S. bread wheat cultivar Timstein.

We report a near telomere-to-telomere high quality genome assembly of the historically important spring wheat cultivar, Timstein, generated using PacBio HiFi long-read sequencing data followed by Hi-C scaffolding. The assembly spanned 14.76 Gb, accounting for all 21 chromosomes of the A, B, and D subgenomes. Gene annotations identified around 105 K high-confidence (HC) gene models. The genome was comprised of ~85% transposable elements, primarily from the Gypsy, Copia, and CACTA families. For each subgenome, the BUSCO completeness score ranging from 97.4 to 99.6% and LTR Assembly Index (LAI) values surpassing 13 indicated the assembly quality was reference grade. Synteny analysis with IWGSC Chinese Spring (CS) RefSeq v2.1 revealed strong chromosomal collinearity between two genomes. Timstein has been extensively studied in classical genetics research for stem and leaf rust resistance and septoria nodorum blotch (SNB) susceptibility. This high-quality genome assembly provides cultivar-resolved references that can expand the wheat pangenome, supports structural and functional genomics studies, and enables fine mapping of disease resistance/susceptibility loci for their utilization in wheat genetics and breeding programs.

Jatinder Singh, Santosh Gudi, P. Maughan et al. · Scientific Data · 1 citation · ⚡1

#gene editing Open access Sep 2026

The hijacking of a wheat Exo70-like protein by a fungal pathogen triggers disease

Tan spot is an economically important fungal disease of wheat that occurs globally. In this necrotrophic pathosystem, pathogen effectors are recognized by wheat genes in an inverse gene-for-gene manner, leading to the hijacking of host defense mechanisms and ultimately disease susceptibility. Here, we identified the tan spot susceptibility gene Tsc2 through positional cloning, mutagenesis, and transgenic complementation. Tsc2 encodes a diverged form of the exocyst subunit Exo70FX15 that localizes to the nucleus and cytoplasm and does not interact directly with the fungal effector. A 21‑nucleotide deletion in Tsc2 occurred in durum wheat more than a century ago and subsequently spread to common wheat through breeding practices, which allowed recognition of the pathogen effector and subsequent hijacking of the host immune system. We demonstrate that elimination of Tsc2 through conventional breeding using a diagnostic marker or disruption of Tsc2 by gene editing can be used to improve tan spot resistance in wheat.

Gurminder Singh, Katherine L. D. Running, Zeng-Cui Zhang et al. · Nature Communications · 0 citations