2011 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) Freezing injury is a major source of risk and yield loss in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em Thell) production. Our long-term goal is to improve frost tolerance in cultivated wheat. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) We will use known gene sequences to identify and sequence genes on wheat chromosomes. Primers will be developed and used to resequence. Populations will be developed and we will determine the effect of each on frost tolerance. 3.Progress Report The question is whether mutations in the CBF12, 14 and 15 genes in wheat affect cold tolerance in mutant populations of tetraploid and hexaploid wheat. Our methods have been to develop genome specific primers for the 9 CBF genes and to identify mutant lines in a TILLING population created in ‘Kronos’ durum wheat. Genome specific primers were developed for CBF12, CBF14, and CBFB15 for all three wheat genomes. A deletion in CBFB-12 is associated with cold tolerance in tetraploid wheat and this deletion has been moved to hexaploid wheat. These results will be used to study the gene expression and cold tolerance of the mutant plants in order to predict how to manipulate these genes in order to develop wheat with better winter survival. Monitoring of this project was done via email communication (quarterly) meetings with the principal investigator (PI) and a site visit in Sept, 2011.