Dr Scott Boden
ARC Externally-Funded Research Fellow (C)
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.
Scott is an ARC Future Fellow, who is investigating the genetic regulation of inflorescence architecture, flowering-time and grain quality in wheat, with the aim to improve the yield and nutrition of grain.
Scott also leads projects investigating the genes that control thermal responsiveness and floret fertility in wheat, and allelic variation controlling flowering-time in oats. Scott supervises students investigating floral architecture traits in wheat, with the aim to improve hybrid seed production, and he leads an ARC Discovery Project that is developing an approach for enhancing the introgression of genetic variation from wild barley into breeding programs.
Scott is the Discipline Lead for Agriculture and an Honours Co-ordinator for the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine. He is available to supervise Bachelor of Science (Honours) research projects in Plant Science and Agriculture.
Possible projects for 2024 include:
1) Investigation of genes that control daylength-dependent flowering of oats.
2) Spatial and temporal expression analysis of genes that control spikelet development in wheat.
3) Characterisation of genetic variation that influences grain protein content in wheat.
- My Research
- Career
- Publications
- Grants and Funding
- Teaching
- Supervision
- Professional Activities
- Contact
The Boden group investigates genes and molecular processes that control inflorescence architecture and flowering time in wheat, barley and oats. The goal of our research is to understand the fundamental mechanisms that regulate key yield components of reproductive development in cereals, which can then be applied in breeding programs to improve grain production and quality.
Our research includes investigation of genes that determine the number and arrangement of spikelets that form on an inflorescence, which are specialised reproductive branches that form grain-producing florets. To investigate this trait, we study the development of ‘paired spikelets’, which are supernumerary spikelets characterised by the formation of two spikelets rather than the typical single spikelet. Research investigating this trait has shown that transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of the photoperiod-dependent flowering pathway regulates spikelet architecture, with a weak-flowering signal during early developmental stages leading to the production of additional spikelets.
Our research includes analysis of the developmental regulation of floral architecture, particularly the control of stigma and carpel development in wheat and how this can be enhanced to benefit hybrid seed production.
We are also interested in the seasonal regulation of flowering-time, and how a plant interacts with its environment to determine when and how many fertile florets form. We are combining laboratory and field-based experiments to understand how genes respond to the seasonal progression of daylength and temperature to influence flowering-time. This work is being extended into oats to understand the major genetic regulators of phenology-related traits in this important cereal.
Scott is based at the Waite Research Institute at the University of Adelaide, and works with colleagues at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, where he was previously a Group Leader and Royal Society Research Fellow. Scott’s collaborations with colleagues at JIC and the Designing Future Wheat research program in the UK aim to generate a wheat ideotype with improved yield potential that will be resilient to changes in the climate. Scott also collaborates with the international wheat research community through his aligned project with the International Wheat Yield Partnership, and he interacts with commercial breeding programs such as KWS and AGT.
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2025 - ongoing Associate Professor University of Adelaide 2022 - ongoing ARC Future Fellow University of Adelaide 2020 - 2021 Independent Research Fellow University of Adelaide 2016 - 2020 Royal Society University Research Fellow John Innes Centre 2015 - 2020 Group Leader John Innes Centre 2011 - 2014 OCE Post-doctoral Research Fellow Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation 2009 - 2011 Marie Curie International Incoming Fellow John Innes Centre 2008 - 2009 Post-doctoral Scientist John Innes Centre -
Language Competencies
Language Competency English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review Italian Can read, write, speak and understand spoken -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 2005 - 2008 University of Adelaide Australia PhD 2004 - 2004 University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Science (Honours) 2001 - 2003 University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Science
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Journals
Year Citation 2025 Millan-Blanquez, M., Simmonds, J., Bird, N., Manes, Y., Uauy, C., & Boden, S. A. (2025). Stigma longevity is not a major limiting factor in hybrid wheat seed production.. Journal of experimental botany, eraf154.
2025 Bennett, M., Bhosale, R., Boden, S. A., Chen, S. -Y., Colombi, T., Ito, T., . . . Wu, S. (2025). Developmental Pathways in Plants: Lessons from Arabidopsis for Crop Innovation. . The Plant cell, koaf136.
2024 Yoshikawa, G. V., & Boden, S. A. (2024). Finding the right balance: The enduring role of florigens during cereal inflorescence development and their influence on fertility. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 79, 102539-1-102539-6.
Scopus1 Europe PMC42024 Gauley, A., Pasquariello, M., Yoshikawa, G. V., Alabdullah, A. K., Hayta, S., Smedley, M. A., . . . Boden, S. A. (2024). Photoperiod-1 regulates the wheat inflorescence transcriptome to influence spikelet architecture and flowering time. Current Biology, 34(11), 2330-2343.
Scopus7 Europe PMC102024 Xu, Y., Wei, Y., Zhou, Z., Cai, X., Boden, S. A., Umer, M. J., . . . Liu, F. (2024). Widespread incomplete lineage sorting and introgression shaped adaptive radiation in the Gossypium genus. Plant Communications, 5(2), 100728.
Scopus8 Europe PMC32023 Nguyen, D. T., Henningsen, E. C., Lewis, D., Mago, R., McNeil, M., Suchecki, R., . . . Figueroa, M. (2023). Genotypic and resistance profile analysis of two oat crown rust differential sets urge coordination and standardisation.. Phytopathology, 114(6 June), 1356-1365.
Scopus3 Europe PMC32023 Safdar, L. B., Dugina, K., Saeidan, A., Yoshicawa, G. V., Caporaso, N., Gapare, B., . . . Fisk, I. D. (2023). Reviving grain quality in wheat through non‐destructive phenotyping techniques like hyperspectral imaging. Food and Energy Security, 12(5), 1-21.
Scopus10 Europe PMC32023 Safdar, L. B., Foulkes, M. J., Kleiner, F. H., Searle, I. R., Bhosale, R. A., Fisk, I. D., & Boden, S. A. (2023). Challenges facing sustainable protein production: Opportunities for cereals. Plant Communications, 4(6), 100716-1-100716-15.
Scopus35 Europe PMC132023 Boden, S. A., McIntosh, R. A., Uauy, C., Krattinger, S. G., Dubcovsky, J., Rogers, W. J., . . . Wheat Initiative. (2023). Updated guidelines for gene nomenclature in wheat.. Theor Appl Genet, 136(4), 1-16.
Scopus44 WoS4 Europe PMC322022 Boden, S. (2022). Discovery of a bread wheat mutant with extra spikelets and a gain in grain yield.. NATURE PLANTS, 8(8), 875-876. 2022 Dixon, L. E., Pasquariello, M., Badgami, R., Levin, K. A., Poschet, G., Ng, P. Q., . . . Boden, S. A. (2022). MicroRNA-resistant alleles of HOMEOBOX DOMAIN-2 modify inflorescence branching and increase grain protein content of wheat. Science Advances, 8(19), 1-16.
Scopus27 WoS7 Europe PMC142022 Millan-Blanquez, M., Hartley, M., Bird, N., Manes, Y., Uauy, C., & Boden, S. (2022). A scalable phenotyping approach for female floral organ development and senescence in the absence of pollination in wheat.. Development (Cambridge, England), 149(18), dev.200889.
Scopus3 WoS1 Europe PMC12022 Trevaskis, B., Harris, F. A. J., Bovill, W. D., Rattey, A. R., Khoo, K. H. P., Boden, S. A., & Hyles, J. (2022). Advancing understanding of oat phenology for crop adaptation. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13, 13 pages.
Scopus9 Europe PMC62021 Gauley, A., & Boden, S. A. (2021). Step-wise increases in FT1 expression regulate seasonal progression of flowering in wheat (Triticum aestivum). The New phytologist, 229(2), 1163-1176.
Scopus29 WoS19 Europe PMC262021 Boden, S. A. (2021). Evolution: Replicated mutation of COL2 contributed long-day flowering in common bean.. Current biology : CB, 31(8), R384-R386.
Scopus12021 Casas, A. M., Gazulla, C. R., Monteagudo, A., Cantalapiedra, C. P., Moralejo, M., Pilar Gracia, M., . . . Igartua, E. (2021). Candidate genes underlying QTL for flowering time and their interactions in a wide spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cross. The Crop Journal, 9(4), 862-872.
Scopus7 WoS52021 Dixon, L. E., & Boden, S. A. (2021). A modified intron of VRT2 drives glume and grain elongation in wheat.. Molecular plant, 14(9), 1421-1423.
Scopus3 WoS2 Europe PMC12021 Gaurav, K., Arora, S., Silva, P., Sánchez-Martín, J., Horsnell, R., Gao, L., . . . Wulff, B. B. H. (2021). Population genomic analysis of Aegilops tauschii identifies targets for bread wheat improvement. Nature Biotechnology, 40(3), 31 pages.
Scopus140 WoS71 Europe PMC1072020 Levin, K. A., & Boden, S. A. (2020). A new branch of understanding for barley inflorescence development. Journal of Experimental Botany, 71(22), 6869-6871.
Scopus7 WoS4 Europe PMC32020 Dixon, L. E., Pasquariello, M., & Boden, S. A. (2020). TEOSINTE BRANCHED1 regulates height and stem internode length in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum). Journal of experimental botany, 71(16), 4742-4750.
Scopus38 WoS24 Europe PMC222020 Scott, M. F., Ladejobi, O., Amer, S., Bentley, A. R., Biernaskie, J., Boden, S. A., . . . Mott, R. (2020). Multi-parent populations in crops: a toolbox integrating genomics and genetic mapping with breeding. Heredity, 125(6), 396-416.
Scopus165 WoS79 Europe PMC1102020 Jacott, C. N., & Boden, S. A. (2020). Feeling the heat: developmental and molecular responses of wheat and barley to high ambient temperatures. Journal of experimental botany, 71(19), 5740-5751.
Scopus65 WoS31 Europe PMC342019 Dixon, L. E., Karsai, I., Kiss, T., Adamski, N. M., Liu, Z., Ding, Y., . . . Griffiths, S. (2019). VERNALIZATION1 controls developmental responses of winter wheat under high ambient temperatures. Development (Cambridge, England), 146(3), 10 pages.
Scopus67 WoS42 Europe PMC402019 Boden, S. A., & Østergaard, L. (2019). How can developmental biology help feed a growing population?. Development (Cambridge), 146(3), 7 pages.
Scopus19 WoS14 Europe PMC152019 Gauley, A., & Boden, S. A. (2019). Genetic pathways controlling inflorescence architecture and development in wheat and barley. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 61(3), 296-309.
Scopus46 WoS36 Europe PMC392019 Dixon, L. E., Karsai, I., Kiss, T., Adamski, N. M., Liu, Z., Ding, Y., . . . Griffiths, S. (2019). Correction to: VERNALIZATION1 controls developmental responses of winter wheat under high ambient temperatures. Development (Cambridge), 146(3), dev175901.
Scopus16 Europe PMC12018 Finnegan, E. J., Ford, B., Wallace, X., Pettolino, F., Griffin, P. T., Schmitz, R. J., . . . Trevaskis, B. (2018). Zebularine treatment is associated with deletion of FT-B1 leading to an increase in spikelet number in bread wheat. Plant Cell and Environment, 41(6), 1346-1360.
Scopus48 WoS32 Europe PMC412018 Dixon, L. E., Farré, A., Finnegan, E. J., Orford, S., Griffiths, S., & Boden, S. A. (2018). Developmental responses of bread wheat to changes in ambient temperature following deletion of a locus that includes FLOWERING LOCUS T1. Plant Cell and Environment, 41(7), 1715-1725.
Scopus52 WoS35 Europe PMC432018 Dixon, L. E., Bencivenga, S., & Boden, S. A. (2018). A new opening for wheat seed production. Journal of Experimental Botany, 69(3), 341-343.
Scopus9 WoS5 Europe PMC32018 Watson, A., Ghosh, S., Williams, M. J., Cuddy, W. S., Simmonds, J., Rey, M. -D., . . . Hickey, L. T. (2018). Speed breeding is a powerful tool to accelerate crop research and breeding. Nature Plants, 4(1), 23-29.
Scopus849 WoS483 Europe PMC4122018 Dixon, L. E., Greenwood, J. R., Bencivenga, S., Zhang, P., Cockram, J., Mellers, G., . . . Boden, S. A. (2018). TEOSINTE BRANCHED1 Regulates Inflorescence Architecture and Development in Bread Wheat ( Triticum aestivum ). The Plant Cell, 30(3), 563-581.
Scopus193 WoS139 Europe PMC1422017 Boden, S. (2017). How hormones regulate floral architecture in barley. Nature Genetics, 49(1), 8-9.
Scopus6 WoS5 Europe PMC32017 Serrano-Mislata, A., Bencivenga, S., Bush, M., Schiessl, K., Boden, S., & Sablowski, R. (2017). DELLA genes restrict inflorescence meristem function independently of plant height. Nature Plants, 3(9), 749-754.
Scopus83 WoS57 Europe PMC652016 Ford, B., Deng, W., Clausen, J., Oliver, S., Boden, S., Hemming, M., & Trevaskis, B. (2016). Barley ( Hordeum vulgare ) circadian clock genes can respond rapidly to temperature in an EARLY FLOWERING 3 -dependent manner. Journal of Experimental Botany, 67(18), 5517-5528.
Scopus50 WoS35 Europe PMC392015 Deng, W., Clausen, J., Boden, S., Oliver, S. N., Casao, M. C., Ford, B., . . . Trevaskis, B. (2015). Dawn and dusk set states of the circadian oscillator in sprouting barley (Hordeum vulgare) seedlings. Plos One, 10(6), 18 pages.
Scopus19 WoS15 Europe PMC122015 Boden, S. A., Cavanagh, C., Cullis, B. R., Ramm, K., Greenwood, J., Jean Finnegan, E., . . . Swain, S. M. (2015). Ppd-1 is a key regulator of inflorescence architecture and paired spikelet development in wheat. Nature Plants, 1(2), 1-6.
Scopus183 WoS137 Europe PMC1362015 Deng, W., Clausen, J., Boden, S., Oliver, S. N., Casao, M. C., Ford, B., . . . Trevaskis, B. (2015). Erratum: Dawn and dusk set states of the circadian oscillator in sprouting barley (Hordeum vulgare) seedlings: (Dawn and Dusk Set States of the Circadian Oscillator in Sprouting Barley (Hordeum vulgare) Seedlings. (PLoS ONE 10(6): e0129781. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0129781)). Plos One, 10(9), e0138255.
2014 Fjellheim, S., Boden, S., & Trevaskis, B. (2014). The role of seasonal flowering responses in adaptation of grasses to temperate climates. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE, 5, 15 pages.
WoS63 Europe PMC592014 Boden, S. A., Weiss, D., Ross, J. J., Davies, N. W., Trevaskis, B., Chandler, P. M., & Swain, S. M. (2014). EARLY FLOWERING3 regulates flowering in spring barley by mediating gibberellin production and FLOWERING LOCUS T expression. Plant Cell, 26(4), 1557-1569.
Scopus114 WoS95 Europe PMC992013 Boden, S. A., Kavanová, M., Finnegan, E. J., & Wigge, P. A. (2013). Thermal stress effects on grain yield in Brachypodium distachyon occur via H2A.Z-nucleosomes. Genome Biology, 14(6), 14 pages.
Scopus75 WoS60 Europe PMC462009 Able, J., Crismani, W., & Boden, S. (2009). Understanding meiosis and the implications for crop improvement. Functional Plant Biology, 36(7), 575-588.
Scopus16 WoS132009 Boden, S., Langridge, P., Spangenberg, G., & Able, J. (2009). TaASY1 promotes homologous chromosome interactions and is affected by deletion of Ph1. Plant Journal, 57(3), 487-497.
Scopus70 WoS57 Europe PMC552007 Boden, S., Shadiac, N., Tucker, E., Langridge, P., & Able, J. (2007). Expression and functional analysis of TaASY1 during meiosis of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum). BMC Molecular Biology, 8(65), 1-14.
Scopus30 WoS23 Europe PMC21
GRDC (2023-2027) - Analysing intrinsic heat response pathways to optimise thermal tolerance of wheat
GRDC (2022-2027) - Increasing cereal yield potential through reduced floret abortion.
ARC Future Fellowship (2022-2026) - Deciphering the genetic regulation of inflorescence development in wheat.
ARC Discovery Project (2021-2025) - Harnessing genetic diversity for complex traits.
GRDC (2020-2023) - Optimise oat phenology for Australian oat production environments.
SAGIT (2020-2023) - Enhancing grain production and quality traits for bread wheat.
BBSRC Responsive Mode (2020-2023) - Regulation of wheat inflorescence architecture by a cation amino acid transporter.
Royal Society Research Grant (2018-2020) - Genetic regulation of spikelet architecture in bread wheat
Royal Society Resaerch Grant (2017-2018) - Investigating genetic diversity regulating spikelet development in bread wheat.
Royal Society University Research Fellowship (2016-2020) - Genetic regulation of inflorescence architecture in wheat.
International Wheat Yield Partnership (2016-2019) - A genetic diversity toolkit to maximise harvest index by controlling the duration of developmental phases.
Marie Curie IIF (2009-2011) - TemPiC: Temperature perception in crop plants.
Honours coordinator, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine: 2023 - current.
Lecturer, Genetics 3212 and Microbiology II, University of Adelaide: 2021 - current.
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Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2024 Principal Supervisor Deciphering the genetic regulation of inflorescence development in bread wheat Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Mawra Arif 2023 Principal Supervisor Exploring the role of alternative transcript splicing in heat stress responses of rice and wheat during reproductive development. Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Mr Shiyu Sun 2022 Principal Supervisor Investigating the genetic control of inflorescence development in wheat Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Guilherme Pedro Ventura Yoshicawa Simoes Silva 2020 Principal Supervisor Understanding the physiological and molecular regulation of protein content variation in wheat grain Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Mr Luqman Bin Safdar -
Other Supervision Activities
Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name 2019 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Genetic control of stigma development and survival in bread wheat University of East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Doctorate Full Time Marina Millan-Blanquez 2018 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Genetic regualtion of spikelet and floret development in wheat University of East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Master Full Time Agamemnon Soutas 2018 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Improving yield components in Triticum aestivum at contrasting environment with novel QTL/genes for cell division and expansion. University of East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Doctorate - Aura Montemayor Lara 2016 - ongoing Principal Supervisor Flowering time regulation in bread wheat University of East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Doctorate - Adam Gauley 2015 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Balancing the genetics of source to sink to increase of bread wheat productivity University of East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Doctorate - Elizabeth Chapman 2015 - 2016 Principal Supervisor Genetic diversity for floret development in wheat University of East Anglia/John Innes Centre - Master Full Time Abdul Kamara
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Committee Memberships
Date Role Committee Institution Country 2022 - ongoing Member Institutional Biosecurity Committee University of Adelaide Australia 2021 - ongoing Council Australian Society of Plant Scientists University of Adelaide Australia 2017 - 2020 Member Designing Future Wheat ISP John Innes Centre United Kingdom 2015 - 2020 Member Monogram UK Monogram UK United Kingdom -
Memberships
Date Role Membership Country 2018 - ongoing Member International Wheat Yield Partnership United States -
Editorial Boards
Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country 2024 - ongoing Associate Editor Journal of Experimental Botany University of Adelaide Australia 2019 - ongoing Editor Agronomy Journal University of Adelaide Australia 2016 - ongoing Consulting Editor Frontiers in Plant Science University of Adelaide Australia
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