The wheat Seven in Absentia gene is associated with increases in biomass and yield in hot climates

Wheat productivity is severely reduced by high temperatures. Breeding of heat tolerant cultivars can be achieved by identifying genes controlling physiological and agronomical traits with high temperature and using these to select superior genotypes, but no gene underlying genetic variation for heat tolerance has previously been described. We completed the positional cloning of qYDH.3BL, a quantitative trait locus (QTL) on bread wheat chromosome 3B associated with increased yield in hot and dry climates. The delimited genomic region contained 12 putative genes and a sequence variant in the promoter region of one gene - seven in absentia, TaSINA. This was associated with the QTLs effects on early vigour, plant biomass and yield components in two distinct wheat populations grown under various growth conditions. Near isogenic lines carrying the positive allele at qYDH.3BL under-expressed TaSINA and had increased vigour and water use efficiency early in development, as well as increased biomass, grain number and grain weight following heat stress. A survey of worldwide distribution indicated that the positive allele became widespread from the 1950s through the CIMMYT wheat breeding programme but, to date, has been selected only in breeding programmes in Mexico and Australia.\n\nSignificance statementWheat is the worlds most widely grown crop and a staple of human diet. Even brief episodes of high temperature in the growing season cause severe yield reductions. Finding and deploying genes for heat stress tolerance in new varieties is a priority for food security with climate change. We narrowed a genetic locus to a small genomic region where genetic variation was present only in one gene that showed clear differences of expression and improved yield and physiology under stress in the populations. Using diagnostic markers to track the positive haplotype in nearly 750 accessions, we found many regions where the allele could be used in breeding programmes to increase wheats heat tolerance.