Scientists worldwide are racing against time to develop climate-resilient durum wheat varieties using advanced genomic research and cloud computing technology. The initiative, led by Italy’s Council for Agricultural and Economic Research (CREA), aims to secure the future of pasta production amid growing climate challenges.

The groundbreaking Pangenome Project, housed in Microsoft’s Northern Italy Data Center Region, brings together researchers from multiple countries to analyze the complex genetic makeup of durum wheat. This collaborative effort utilizes Microsoft Azure’s cloud computing capabilities to process and analyze petabytes of genetic data.

“We need to adapt to the planet exactly as our progenitors did,” explains Luigi Cattivelli, director of CREA’s Genomics Research Center. “It’s principally the same story, except that now, even staying in the same position, we must adapt because the climate is changing.”

The urgency of this research is underscored by wheat’s crucial role in global food security, providing approximately 20% of human caloric intake worldwide. Climate change poses direct threats to wheat production through extreme weather events, including drought, heat waves, and flooding.

The project leverages a sophisticated Azure-based framework capable of storing and analyzing multiple petabytes of genetic data from various wheat varieties.

Curtis Pozniak, director of the Crop Development Center at the University of Saskatchewan, emphasizes the efficiency gains: “It took me the better part of my Ph.D. to clone a single gene that was important for a wheat trait, with the kind of data and analysis tools we have at our disposal now, we’re doing that in a matter of weeks or months. It’s an exciting time to be a scientist.”

Primetta Faccioli, a key researcher at CREA, led the development of the Azure cloud system for genomic data analysis. The platform enables scientists to work simultaneously on the same data sets, using a workflow orchestrator called Nextflow, created in partnership with Microsoft partner Seqera.

The research focuses on identifying beneficial genetic traits from ancient wheat varieties that could enhance modern durum wheat’s resilience. “We need to find and record all the genetic diversity that is out there because now we are facing new challenges because of climate change,” explains Elisabetta Mazzucotelli, a researcher working on the Pangenome Project.

The significance of this work extends beyond Italy’s pasta industry. The research could help develop wheat varieties that require fewer pesticides and fertilizers while being more resistant to extreme weather conditions. This advancement is crucial for sustainable agriculture and global food security in the face of climate change.

The project demonstrates how modern technology and international collaboration can accelerate agricultural innovation. By combining traditional breeding knowledge with cutting-edge genomics and cloud computing, scientists are working to ensure wheat production can adapt to our changing climate.

News Source: https://news.microsoft.com/source/emea/features/decoding-durum-wheat-dna-sustainable-future/