A pleiotropic QTL increased economic water use efficiency in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract

Wheat is one of the most important food crops in the world and drought can severely impact on wheat productivity. The identification and deployment of genes for improved water use efficiency (WUE) can help alleviate yield loss under water limitation. In this study, a high-density genetic linkage map of wheat recombinant inbred lines (Ningchun 4 x Ningchun 27) containing 8751 specific locus amplified fragment (SLAF) tags (including 14757 SNPs), with a total map distance of 1685 cM and an average inter-marker map distance of 0.19 cM was constructed by SLAF-seq technology. The economic yield WUE and nine related traits under three water treatments was monitored over four years. The results showed that loci conditioning WUE were also associated with grain carbon isotope discrimination (CID), flag leaf chlorophyll content, plant height, 1000-grain weight, grain weight per spike and grain number per spike. One locus on chromosome 2B explained 26.3% WUE variation in multiple environments. Under good soil moisture conditions before flowering, the high CID genotype QWue.acn-2BNingchun 27, was associated with WUE, high grain weight per spike, and kilo-grain weight. Under rain-fed conditions, the low CID genotype QWue.acn-2BNingchun 4 tended to maintain more spike number and was associated with improved WUE and yield. The introduction of good chromosome fragments of QWue.acn-2B into elite lines by molecular marker assisted selection will boost up the cultivation of high-yield and water-saving wheat varieties.

Cytogenetic identification and molecular marker development of a novel Wheat - Psathyrostachys huashanica 2NsS (2D) fragment disomic substitution line with resistance to stripe rust

“…Currently, high-throughput sequencing technology is extensively employed because of its great e ciency and cheap cost. Speci c markers produced based on SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) such as KASP, SLAF-sequence, and GBS [35,36]. Zhang et al [37] sequenced the transcriptome of P. huashanica, which not only veri ed the Ns genome-speci c SNPs in the common wheat background using KASP genotyping, but also revealed genetic links between Psathyrostachys, Leymus, and other related species.…”

A simulation-based assessment of the efficiency of QTL mapping under environment and genotype x environment interaction effects

“…Based on our results and also on the results from many field QTL mapping over environments, we can state that the QTL mapping in MET is not a challenger. In these studies, there are several declared QTLs for each trait, most of them unstable [ 28 , 29 ]. However, because the significance of the environment and QTL x environment interaction effects, we can characterize the QTL mapping over environments as unpredictable, assuming a low correlation between environment index and trait heritability.…”

Phenotyping and metabolome analysis reveal the role of AdoMetDC and Di19 genes in determining acquired tolerance to drought in rice

“…Global research initiatives to identify QTLs for root traits (Manavalan et al, 2015; Raju et al, 2019; Steele et al, 2007; Tuberosa et al, 2002) and WUE (Raju et al, 2019; Wang, Zhao, et al, 2018; Wehner et al, 2016) have resulted in attempts to phenotype these complex physiological traits. A few of these QTL regions have also been fine‐mapped to identify genes governing root traits (Halder et al, 2021; Uga et al, 2013) and WUE (Hui et al, 2023; Masle et al, 2005).…”