Gene identified that could triple wheat yields

Article posted 20 March 2026 by Fiona Simson, Chair, Agricultural Biotechnology Council of Australia photos by Aurthur Mostead and Sophie Clayton

Australian researcher Dr Scott Boden at the University of Adelaide is part of the international team that has discovered a gene that makes wheat grow 3 ovaries per flower instead of one. Producing additional ovaries corresponds to an increase in grains per spike, potentially delivering substantial yield gains on existing cropping land.

The triple-ovary-per-flower mutation was observed in a common bread wheat, so the research team mapped the multi-ovary wheat’s DNA and compared it with regular wheat. They found that the normally dormant gene WUSCHEL-D1 (WUS-D1) was ‘switched on’ in the multi-ovary wheat, allowing it to produce extra female parts early in the flower development process of the plant growth cycle.

“Pinpointing the genetic basis of this trait offers a path for breeders to incorporate it into new wheat varieties, potentially increasing the number of grains per spike and overall yield,” says Vijay Tiwari, Associate Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Maryland, US, and co-author of the study.

“By employing a gene editing toolkit, we can now focus on further improving this trait for enhancing wheat yield. This discovery provides an exciting route to develop cost-effective hybrid wheat.”

Wheat is one of the world’s staple crops responsible for feeding billions every day. This discovery could be a powerful tool to improve global food security.

According to researchers, the discovery of this gene could also lead to the development of similar multi-ovary varieties of other grain crops. This research was published in the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ and included funding support from a number of organisations, including the Australian Research Council.