Identification and validation of Fusarium head blight resistance QTL in the U.S. soft red winter wheat cultivar ‘Jamestown’

Abstract

Use of genetic resistance is one of the most important strategies to manage the devastating disease Fusarium head blight (FHB) in wheat. Numerous quantitative trait loci (QTL) having varying effects on reducing FHB and the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation have been reported from Asian, European, or distant sources such as wild relatives of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). However, coming from nonadapted backgrounds, the incorporation of such QTL into regional breeding programs has often resulted in the simultaneous transfer of other undesirable traits. Therefore, it is important to identify, characterize, and deploy sources of genetic resistance that do not suffer from poor adaptability and/or linkage drag. In the present work, QTL associated with FHB resistance in a high‐yielding, moderately resistant soft red winter wheat cultivar ‘Jamestown’ were mapped and validated. The QTL mapping was done using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population of Pioneer ‘25R47’ × Jamestown having 186 individuals. Phenotyping over 2 yr at three locations, and genotyping using the 90K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) platform identified two new QTL, named QFHB.vt‐1B.1 and QFHB.vt‐1B.2, on the chromosome 1B long arm. The QTL contributed to FHB incidence, FHB severity, Fusarium‐damaged kernels, and DON content. Independent mapping of these QTL using two additional RIL populations of FG95195 × Jamestown (170 RILs) and Jamestown × LA97113UC‐124 (77 RILs) validated their stability and effectiveness in different genetic backgrounds. Kompetitive allele specific polymerase chain reaction (KASP) assays were developed using linked SNPs for marker‐assisted selection of the QTL. These QTL are being used in breeding programs to develop FHB‐resistant, high‐yielding varieties.

Genetics of Fusarium head blight resistance in soft red winter wheat using a genome‐wide association study

“…Multiple QTL have been reported on chromosome 1B conferring resistance to SEV (QFhb-1B.2) in the Chinese wheat mapping panel (Hu et al, 2020), DON (Qksu.fhbE-1BS) in Kansas wheat cultivar Everest (da Silva et al, 2019), IND (Qfhs.vt-1BL) in FHB resistant SRWW cultivar VA00W-38 (Liu et al, 2012), and FDK and DON in the SRWW association panel (Tessmann & Van Sanford, 2018), none of these QTL were near to our loci. Recently, Carpenter et al (2020) mapped QTL QFHB.vt-1B.1 and QFHB.vt-1B.2 from a SRWW cultivar Jamestown at 476.3-476.9 Mb (flanking markers IWB7443 and IWB10551) and 330.2-341.9 Mb (IWB6259 and IWB43992), respectively. However, our loci overlapped with the QTL Qfhb.nc-1B detected in the NC-Neuse/AGS 2000 RILs population (Petersen et al, 2016).…”

Evaluation of Methods for Measuring Fusarium-Damaged Kernels of Wheat

“…Kinship for GWAS and genomic prediction pipelines was derived from the same additive genomic relationship matrix created from the A.mat function as part of the sommer package v4.1.5 [32] using the VanRaden method [33], in order to maintain continuity between both analyses. Major FHB resistance QTL Fhb1 [34,35], F1BJ [4,24] and F1AN [18] are shown to have allele frequencies of 15.4%, 27.5%, 36.6% across entries, respectively.…”

“…Fhb1 has been shown to reduce FDK by 32% and DON accumulation by 20% in soft red winter wheat populations [1]. F1BJ has been shown to explain as much as 11.8% of FDK and 9.2% DON variation, and F1AN has been shown to explain 11.4% of FDK and 10.9% of DON variation [18,24].…”

“…Additionally, it was hypothesized that FDK, when determined by different platforms, would demonstrate varying phenotypic resolution, causing direct effect on the corresponding FDK dataset's ability to (1) uncover missing heritability in the FDK trait; (2) capture the genetic variation underpinning Type III, IV and V resistance components; (3) detect trait associations with FHB resistance QTL in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) [22]. Previously, GWAS has been used to associate FDK with major FHB resistance loci such as Fhb1 [23], F1BJ (FHB_1B_Jamestown) [4,24] and F1AN (FHB_1A_Neuse) [18]. Fhb1 has been previously detected using FDK as a trait, while F1BJ and F1AN have been previously associated with DON directly [16].…”

Introduction to the special Crop Science issue: Celebrating the International Year of Plant Health

“…Carpenter et al. (2020) mapped quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with resistance to Fusarium head blight in a population of recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross of the soft red winter wheat variety ‘Jamestown’ with Pioneer ‘25R47.’ Additional mapping using related populations validated QTL positions in different genetic backgrounds and provided the framework for marker‐assisted selection to improve resistance.…”