Impact of High and Low-Molecular-Weight Glutenins on the Processing Quality of a Set of Biofortified Common Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Lines

Abstract

Development of biofortified wheat lines has emerged as a sustainable solution to alleviate malnutrition. However, for these varieties to be successful, it is important that they meet the minimum quality criteria required to produce the local food products. In the present study, a set of 94 biofortified common wheat lines were analyzed for their grain micronutrients content (Fe and Zn) and for their processing quality and glutenin profile. Most of the analyzed lines exhibited a grain Zn concentration greater than the non-biofortified check varieties, of at least 3 ppm. The content of both Fe and Zn appeared to be significantly associated with grain protein content (r = 0.21-0.65; p < 0.01) but not with grain yield or other wheat quality traits. Wide allelic variation was observed at both the high-molecular-weight glutenin (HMW-GS) and the low-molecular-weight glutenin (LMW-GS) loci and alleles associated with greater dough strength were identified. Specifically, among the HMW-GS alleles, the Glu-B1i, Glu-B1al, and Glu-D1d alleles were associated with greater mixograph and alveograph values and greater loaf volume. Similarly, among the LMW-GS alleles, the Glu-A3b and Glu-B3b alleles were associated with stronger gluten and better bread-making quality. Overall, results of this study suggest that biofortification does not profoundly alter wheat enduse quality and that the effect of the different glutenin alleles is independent of the grain protein and micronutrient content.

Genome-wide association study identifies loci and candidate genes for grain micronutrients and quality traits in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

“…The significant positive correlations among GZnC, GFeC, and GPC indicate the possibility of simultaneous improvement of these traits. This finding is in line with earlier reports 44 , 49 – 52 . Additionally, many studies suggested a common genetic basis for these traits through GWAS and conventional QTL studies 50 , 51 , 55 , 56 .…”

“…The heritability estimates were higher (h 2 ≥ 0.60) for the studied traits, however, moderate heritability was found in some environments eg., > 0.40 and < 0.60 for GFeC in E1 and E4, GZnC and GPC in E4 (Table 1 ). The comparable heritability estimates were also reported in previous studies for these traits 29 , 32 , 49 – 53 .…”

Identification of Genetic Loci and Candidate Genes Related to Grain Zinc and Iron Concentration Using a Zinc-Enriched Wheat ‘Zinc-Shakti’

“…Based on the best pleiotropic QTL combination, we have identified nine transgressive individuals from the RIL population that could be used in the breeding pipeline ( Table 6 ). The higher number of pleiotropic QTL for GZnC and GFeC obtained in the present study vis-à-vis previous studies is largely due to the higher correlation obtained between GZnC and GFeC as compared with previous studies ( Xu et al, 2012 ; Crespo-Herrera et al, 2017 ; Rathan et al, 2020 ). For example, Xu et al (2012) ; and Crespo-Herrera et al (2017) reported correlations between GZnC and GFeC ranging from 0.42 to 0.82 and 0.38–0.63, respectively, in different environments, whereas we obtained correlations ranging from 0.76 to 0.96 between the two traits in different years.…”

Genetic Dissection of Grain Zinc and Iron Concentration, Protein Content, Test Weight and Thousand Kernel Weight in Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) through Genome Wide Association Study

“…The signi cant positive correlations among GZnC, GFeC and GPC indicate the possibility of simultaneous improvement of these traits (Table 3). This nding is in line with few earlier reports [40,[45][46][47]. Additionally, many studies suggested a common genetic basis of these traits through GWAS and QTL studies [49,50].…”

“…Higher heritability indicates the greater contribution of genetic variance to the total variance and indicates the possibility of genetic improvement of traits through marker-assisted selection. Comparable heritability estimates were reported in some previous studies [29,32,45,46,47,48].…”