Wei Wang

Institute of Life Sciences, Jiyang College of Zhejiang A&F University, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 2025, Vol. 16, No. 6   
Received: 12 Oct., 2025    Accepted: 27 Nov., 2025    Published: 17 Dec., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Panicle development of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a key process determining yield potential, which is jointly acted by a complex molecular regulatory network and a large number of developmental genes. In this study, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was utilized to identify gene modules related to wheat ear development based on a multi-stage high-resolution RNA-seq data system. The results showed that multiple co-expression modules were significantly correlated with key agronomic traits such as panicle length, number of flowers, and branch formation. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses indicated that these modules were mainly involved in biological processes such as flower meristem maintenance, plant hormone signal transduction, and transcriptional regulation. In the study, key hub genes such as TaFUL2 and several important transcription factors belonging to families like MADS-box and bHLH were identified, which may play a core regulatory role in panicle morphogenesis. Module - Trait correlation analysis revealed multiple trait specific gene sets and reflected the spatiotemporal expression patterns of these key regulatory factors. This study not only deepened the understanding of the molecular network of wheat ear development, but also provided important genetic resources and theoretical basis for subsequent functional gene research and molecular breeding.

Wheat ear development; Co-expression network; WGCNA; Transcription factor; hub gene screening