INCREASING WHEAT GRAIN YIELD IS IMPORTANT FOR WORLDWIDE FOOD SECURITY. THIS IS PARTICULARLY URGENT BECAUSE IN RECENTYEARS, THERE HAS BEEN A STAGNATION IN THE RATES OF YIELD INCREASES OBTAINED IN THE TRADITIONAL WHEAT BREEDING PROGRAMS.AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT TO GRAIN YIELD IS GRAIN NUMBER, WHICH CAN BE IMPROVED BY INCREASING THE NUMBER OFSPIKELETS PER SPIKE. THE NUMBER OF SPIKELETS PER SPIKE CAN BE INCREASED BY ADDING MORE SPIKELETS AT THE END OR BYGENERATING BRANCHES BEARING ADDITIONAL SPIKELET. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THIS TWO YEARS POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH PROJECTIS TO IMPROVE WHEAT YIELD POTENTIAL BY GENETICALLY MODIFYING SPIKE MORPHOLOGY. A BRANCHED-SPIKE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIEDIN A WHEAT CALLED 'MIRACLE WHEAT'. IN THIS PROJECT, WE WILL IDENTIFY AND CHARACTERIZE THE GENES RESPONSIBLE FOR THISBRANCHED-SPIKE PHENOTYPE. THE PROJECT HAS THREE KEY OBJECTIVES (TASKS). THE FIRST IS TO IDENTIFY NEW WHEATQUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI (QTL) THAT REGULATES THE FORMATION OF BRANCHES IN THE SPIKE. THE SECOND OBJECTIVE IS TOCONDUCT HIGH-RESOLUTION MAPPING TO DEFINE A SMALL REGION RESPONSIBLE FOR THE QTL IDENTIFIED IN OBJECTIVE 1, AND TOIDENTIFY POTENTIAL CANDIDATE GENES. THE THIRD OBJECTIVE IS TO INTROGRESS TWO PREVIOUSLY IDENTIFIED GENES AFFECTING SPIKEBRANCHING INTO HIGH YIELDING CALIFORNIA DURUM WHEAT VARIETIES TO TEST THEIR EFFECT ON SPIKELET NUMBER PER SPIKE, GRAINNUMBER AND TOTAL GRAIN YIELD.