AI-powered wheat resistance gene discovery

Status: Active

Accelerating gene target discovery for durable wheat disease resistance using agentic AI and knowledge graphs

Yellow rust is a major threat to UK wheat production. New pathogen strains can overcome previously effective resistance genes, including Yr15, creating an urgent need to discover and deploy new sources of genetic resistance. This FIP Feasibility Study, launched in October 2026 and led by KnetMiner in collaboration with Niab, will test an AI-powered tool that securely connects public biological knowledge with breeding organisations’ own genomic and field trial data.

Using a natural language interface, researchers and breeders will be able to explore these combined datasets and uncover potentially valuable connections between genes and crop traits. Using wheat yellow rust as a test case, the AI tool will identify promising candidate genes associated with disease resistance. Niab will validate their function in disease resistance using virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS), a rapid approach for studying gene function in plants. The project aims to accelerate resistance gene discovery, support the development of more resilient wheat varieties and ultimately help reduce reliance on fungicides.