Hybrid necrosis is characterized as progressive chlorosis and necrosis of plant leaves, tillers or whole plants premature death in certain wheat hybrids, which is caused by the combination of two complementary loci Ne1 and Ne2 located on chromosome arms 5BL and 2BS, respectively. Hybrid necrosis s is a serious barrier for combining desirable traits from various genotypes of wheat and the full utilization of heterosis in wheat. In this study, we ne mapped Ne1 on chromosome 5BL, and nally delimited Ne1 to a 4.06-Mb region with large heterogeneous inbred families (HIFs) from the RILs of 'Zhengnong 17' × 'Yangbaimai'. Further characterization of the near isogenic lines derived from HIFs con rmed that Ne1 was tightly linked with a 2.89-Mb fragment that is deleted in Zhengnong 17. Additionally, a diagnostic InDel marker 5B-InDel385 for Ne1 was developed and was used to assess the existence of Ne1 in a diverse panel of 501 wheat accessions. Among them, 122 (61%) out of 200 landraces showed the presence of Ne1 gene, whereas only 79 (26%) out of 301 modern cultivars carried the Ne1 gene. The drastic decrease of Ne1 frequency in modern cultivars indicates that the Ne1 has been subjected to heavily selection pressure. This study provides a good foundation for the marker-assisted selection, gene cloning and functional studies of Ne1 in wheat.
Key MessageHybrid necrosis gene Ne1 was delimited into an approximately 4.06-Mb region on chromosome 5BL using heterogeneous inbred families, and a diagnostic marker for Ne1 was developed.