April 6, 2018
New genomic tool searches wheat's wild past to improve crops of the future
![Wild wheat relative, Aegilops tauschii, at a research plot in Manhattan, KS Wild wheat relative, Aegilops tauschii, at a research plot in Manhattan, KS](http://www.k-state.edu/k-publisher/custom-images/2018-Apr-05_1123_42-wildwhe.jpg)
A new genetic directory launched April 4 will enable researchers and breeders to scan the genomes of wild relatives of modern wheat to find disease-fighting properties lost to domestication.
The directory is the crowd-funded outcome of an international consortium led by wheat researchers at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, U.K., and Kansas State University.