New alleles of the wheat domestication geneQreveal multiple roles in growth and reproductive development

The advantages of free threshing in wheat led to the selection of the domesticated Q allele which is now present in almost all modern wheat varieties. Q and the pre-domestication allele, q, encode an AP2 transcription factor with the domesticated allele conferring a free threshing character and a subcompact (i.e. partially compact) inflorescence (spike). We demonstrate that mutations in the miR172-binding site of the Q gene are sufficient to...