Cultivar · Wheat cultivar
Cadenza
Cadenza is a United Kingdom spring bread wheat that has become one of the most widely used reference genotypes in wheat genetics, including a sequenced hexaploid TILLING mutant population developed for gene-function research.
Record
Cultivar / variety- Variety of
- Wheat
- Botanical taxon
- Triticum aestivum
- Type
- Cultivar
- Breeding method
- Cross-breeding (pedigree selection)
- Origin
- United Kingdom
- Registry status
- Historical · as of 2026-07-12
- Intended use
- Spring bread wheat, Widely used reference genotype in wheat genetics and mutation (TILLING) research
Registry listing or variety protection is jurisdiction- and date-specific and does not by itself indicate current commercial availability, universal cultivation approval, patent status, or a recommendation.
Cadenza is a spring bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) bred in the United Kingdom and grown as a breadmaking-quality spring variety. Beyond its use as a farm cultivar, it has become a standard reference genotype in wheat research.
Cadenza is one of two cultivars — with the durum wheat Kronos — used to build large chemically mutagenized (EMS) TILLING populations whose exomes were sequenced to allow researchers to find mutations in specific wheat genes. This work was carried out as a collaboration among UK and US research institutes, and Cadenza is also among the hexaploid wheats with a research genome assembly.
Origin and classification
- Species
- Triticum aestivum (hexaploid bread wheat)
- Origin
- United Kingdom
- Growth habit
- Spring
- Quality type
- Breadmaking-quality spring wheat
Use in research
Cadenza is widely used as a reference genotype in wheat functional genomics. A large TILLING population — a collection of lines carrying many chemically induced point mutations — was generated in Cadenza and had its exome sequenced, so that researchers can identify plants carrying mutations in a gene of interest without growing the entire population.
Scope & limitations
Geographic scope: Documented United Kingdom spring bread wheat used internationally as a wheat genetics reference; agronomic adaptation is region- and season-specific.
Climate context: A spring bread wheat of temperate United Kingdom origin, now widely used as a research genotype.
- Adaptation and trait notes are region- and season-specific, and performance varies by environment.
- No release year or breeder is asserted here because reliable details were not confirmed; Cadenza is described mainly through its documented use as a research reference genotype.
Sources
This article draws on the following authoritative sources. See our sources & methodology for how they are selected.
- [1]AHDB — Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (opens in a new tab)High
Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB)
Cited for: United Kingdom wheat variety and agronomy context
- Type:
- Government agency
- Jurisdiction:
- United Kingdom
- Accessed:
- 2026-07-12
- High
Cited for: Classification of Triticum aestivum and Cadenza genome/sequence resources
- Type:
- Reference database
- Jurisdiction:
- Global
- Accessed:
- 2026-07-12