Cloning of novel low and high molecular weight heat shock genes in wheat

Abstract

Heat tolerance is an important objective for wheat improvement in the Southern US Great Plains. It is hypothesized that heat shock proteins play a vital role in the plant's ability to survive high temperature stress. Cloning low and high molecular weight HSPs from a thermotolerant variety of wheat will provide a building block for later studies of their function. Moreover, once significance of a HSP gene in plant thermotolerance is confirmed, beneficial cloned genes from thermotolerant varieties could be used to improve other wheat germplasm.