Characterization of drought tolerance in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum l.) using genetic and transcriptomic tools

The research aimed at understanding the mechanism of drought tolerance in wheat at earty seedling and post-anthesis stages. Under early-stage water stress, contrasting genotypes were identified from a germplasm collection using a stress tolerance index. Transcriptomic analysis of two contrasting genotypes, ABURA and AUS12671, revealed their molecular mechanism of adaptation. For later stage water stress, nature of gene action of a diallel population were analyzed. Finally, C306xDharwar Dry hybrids were used for fast-track development of near-isogenic lines (Nils). These NIL pairs were characterized and can be valuable resources for fine-mapping, and cloning of the gene(s) for drought tolerance in wheat.