Genetic analysis of dry matter and nitrogen accumulation and protein composition in wheat kernels

Abstract

The maximum rate and duration for grain dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) accumulation were evaluated in 194 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from a cross between the two French wheat cultivars Récital and Renan. These cultivars were previously identified as having contrasting kinetics of grain DM and N accumulation. Grain protein composition was analysed by capillary electrophoresis (CE), which enabled quantification of the different storage protein fractions (alphabetagamma-gliadins, omega-gliadins, LMW glutenins, HMW glutenins, and each of their subunits). Correlation analyses revealed that DM and N accumulation rates were closely correlated and repeatable over several years, which was not the case for DM and N accumulation durations, and that protein composition was primarily influenced by the N accumulation rate. This was particularly true for the LMW-glutenins and the alphabetagamma-gliadins, the most abundant protein fractions. A genetic map of 254 molecular markers covering nearly 80% of the wheat genome was used for quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis. A total of seven QTLs were found. Five QTLs were significantly associated with the kinetics of DM and N accumulation, and two of them also influenced protein composition. Two QTLs affected only the protein composition. One major QTL explained more than 70% of the total variation in HMW-GS Glu1B-x content.

Inheritance of the efficiency of nitrogen uptake and utilization in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under diverse nutrition levels

“…However, the genetic control of whole-season N efficiency has rarely been examined in wheat. Recent extensive molecular studies (Charmet et al 2005;Quarrie et al 2005;Habash et al 2007;Laperche et al 2008;Fontaine et al 2009) identified numerous genome regions (QTLs) responsible for grain yield structure and nitrogen yield under N limitations, grain protein content and N metabolism in the uppermost foliage as well as for the activity of glutamine synthetase and glutamate dehydrogenase, the key enzymes involved in N assimilation. In earlier investigations (Le Gouis et al 2002), both additive and non-additive genetic effects were crucial for agronomic NUE components in F 1 hybrids between modern French cultivars.…”

Nucleotide Polymorphism in the Wheat Transcriptional ActivatorSpaInfluences Its Pattern of Expression and Has Pleiotropic Effects on Grain Protein Composition, Dough Viscoelasticity, and Grain Hardness

“…Significant quantitative genetic variations in GSP composition have also been reported for wheat (Graybosch et al, 1996;Huebner et al, 1997). However, only a few quantitative trait loci have been identified (Guillaumie et al, 2004;Charmet et al, 2005;Ravel et al, 2006c), and so far no gene or allele controlling natural variations in GSP composition has been identified.…”

Conditional quantitative trait locus mapping of wheat seed protein-fraction in relation to starch content

“…Proteinfraction and starch contents in wheat grains are affected by genes and environment. To date, many studies carried out on QTLs in wheat have focused on protein-fraction content, which are distributed on at least 15 chromosomes, such as 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 2D, 3A, 3B, 4A, 5B, 5D, 6B, 6D, 7A, 7B, and 7D chromosomes (Charmet et al 2005;Mann et al 2009;Merlino et al 2009;Zhang et al 2011). In the present study, atotal of 17 unconditional additive QTLs (four albumin QTLs, three globulin QTLs, six gliadin QTLs, four glutenin QTLs) controlling protein component content were detected.…”