8 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA SEPTEMBER 2026 For nearly two centuries, Canadian wheat breeders have reshaped what grows above ground. Julia Zheku wants to know what they’ve been changing underneath it. The University of British Columbia (UBC) graduate student is studying Canadian heritage bread wheat varieties spanning 1842 to 2024, investigating how generations of crop improvement have altered wheat roots. Her question has modern implications: Did breeding for higher yields and better agronomic performance inadvert ently change root traits wheat may need in a more volatile climate? Early evidence suggests it did. Zheku has found shifts in root anatomy and early growth rates across breeding eras, apparently reflecting indirect selec tion for yield and adapta tion. Those traits influence how plants acquire water and nutrients and interact with soil microbes and tolerate stress. Yet roots have historically received far less attention from breeders. Working with UBC and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Zheku is examining whether modern wheat roots are suited not only to the conditions in which varieties were developed, but those they will face in the future. She is also developing tools to make those hidden traits easier to select. During her first semester in Arif Ashraf’s UBC lab, Zheku developed a triple-staining method that reveals cellular barriers in wheat roots. She is now working on a high-throughput screening tool that could help breed ing programs evaluate belowground traits at scale. Alongside her wheat research, Zheku is studying how roots adapt to toxic soil environments with collaborators at the United States Department of Agriculture and Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. One project looks backward to understand what 180 years of breeding changed underground. The other exam ines how roots survive hostile environments. Together, they could help breeders design wheat for what comes next. Ask Yue Yu what she wants to do in her career, and the answer is short. She wants to apply genomics to solve real- world problems in plant breeding. As a PhD candidate in evolutionary genomics at the University of British Columbia under internationally renowned plant geneticist Loren Rieseberg, Yue belongs to a new generation of researchers who see no boundary between fundamental science and practical crop improvement. Plant breeding has always depended on finding better plants. Yue is asking whether breeders can find them faster. Her research applies genomic prediction and landscape genomics to identify drought-tolerant sunflower cultivars without relying exclusively on years of expensive field trials. By combining greenhouse experiments, genomic informa tion from wild sunflower relatives and advanced modelling, she’s working to improve selection efficiency as drought becomes an increasingly common challenge across the Canadian Prairies and worldwide. She’s also tackled another major breeding challenge: Verticillium wilt. Her work with col laborators from Inner Mongolia Agricultural University identified resist ant sunflower lines, uncov ered the complex genetics behind disease resistance and pinpointed candidate genes that breeders can use to develop more resilient cultivars. But perhaps her contri bution and interest began in an entirely different crop. During her master’s research, Yue pioneered the first validated, region- wide application of land scape genomics to define seed and breeding zones for lodgepole pine in Western Canada — research that now pioneers new strategies to guide seed transfer, conservation and climate adaptation. Rieseberg describes her as “an outstanding early-career scientist” whose work combines academic excellence with innovation and a deep commitment to translating genomic research into practical agricultural outcomes. He also high lights her leadership in teaching, mentoring and science communication, saying she represents “the very best of the next generation of plant breeders and geneticists.” She’s Reimagining How Plant Breeding Happens Yue Yu | University of British Columbia A way for breeders to see what generations of selection have hidden underground, turning wheat roots into measurable traits for breeding crops that can withstand increasingly unpredictable conditions WHAT SHE’S BUILDING: A new way to breed plants, using genomics to predict which ones will thrive before years of field trials ever begin. WHAT SHE’S BUILDING: She’s Asking How Crops Survive an Unpredictable World Julia Zheku | University of British Columbia
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