School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia; Corresponding authors.
Ruchi Bishnoi
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Ummedganj-Kota, Agriculture University, Kota, Rajasthan 324001, India
Buddhini Ranawaka
ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia; Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
Manu Maya Magar
UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; Nepal Agriculture Research Council, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal
Hafeez Ur Rehman
Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan
Swati G. Bharad
Department of Agricultural Botany, Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola 444104, Maharashtra, India
Michal T. Lorenc
Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
Vinita Ramtekey
ICAR-Indian Institute of Seed Science, Mau, Uttar Pradesh 275103, India
Sasha Gohar
School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW 2109, Australia
Charu Lata
ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Flowrdale 54642, Shimla, India
Md. Harun-Or-Rashid
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) Bangladesh Office, Gulshan-2, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Maryam Razzaq
Center for Seed Science, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan
Muhammad Sajjad
Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Park Road, Tarlai Kalan, Islamabad 45550, Pakistan
Bhoja R. Basnet
CGIAR’s Excellence in Breeding (EiB) Platform/Accelerated Breeding Initiative, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), El Batán 56237, Mexico; Corresponding authors.
Rice and wheat provide nearly 40% of human calorie and protein requirements. They share a common ancestor and belong to the Poaceae (grass) family. Characterizing their genetic homology is crucial for developing new cultivars with enhanced traits. Several wheat genes and gene families have been characterized based on their rice orthologs. Rice–wheat orthology can identify genetic regions that regulate similar traits in both crops. Rice–wheat comparative genomics can identify candidate wheat genes in a genomic region identified by association or QTL mapping, deduce their putative functions and biochemical pathways, and develop molecular markers for marker-assisted breeding. A knowledge of gene homology facilitates the transfer between crops of genes or genomic regions associated with desirable traits by genetic engineering, gene editing, or wide crossing.
