Molecular Mapping of QTLs Conferring Fusarium Head Blight Resistance in Chinese Wheat Cultivar Jingzhou 66

Abstract

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a destructive disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), which not only significantly reduces grain yield, but also affects end-use quality. Breeding wheat cultivars with high FHB resistance is the most effective way to control the disease. The Chinese wheat cultivar Jingzhou 66 (JZ66) shows moderately high FHB resistance; however, the genetic basis of its resistance is unknown. A doubled haploid (DH) population consisting 209 lines was developed from a cross of JZ66 and Aikang 58 (AK58), a FHB susceptible wheat cultivar, to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) that contribute to the FHB resistance. Five field experiments were established across two consecutive crop seasons (2018 and 2019) to evaluate the DH lines and parents for FHB response. The parents and DH population were genotyped with the wheat 55K single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assay. Six QTLs associated with FHB resistance in JZ66 were mapped on chromosome 2DS, 3AS, 3AL, 3DL, 4DS, and 5DL, respectively. Four of the QTL (QFhb.hbaas-2DS, QFhb.hbaas-3AL, QFhb.hbaas-4DS, and QFhb.hbaas-5DL) were detected in at least two environments, and the QTL on 3AL and 5DL might be new. The QTL with major effects, QFhb.hbaas-2DS and QFhb.hbaas-4DS, explained up to 36.2% and 17.6% of the phenotypic variance, and were co-localized with the plant semi-dwarfing loci Rht8 and Rht-D1. The dwarfing Rht8 allele significantly increased spike compactness (SC) and FHB susceptibility causing a larger effect on FHB response than Rht-D1 observed in this study. PCR–based SNP markers for QFhb.hbaas-2DS, QFhb.hbaas-3AL, QFhb.hbaas-4DS, and QFhb.hbaas-5DL, were developed to facilitate their use in breeding for FHB resistance by marker-assisted selection.

Multi-Locus Genome-Wide Association Studies to Characterize Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) Resistance in Hard Winter Wheat

“…As majority of lines in the panel did not have Fhb1 based on the parentage, the significant genotypic variation observed for the two traits was mainly contributed by native resistance genes. Furthermore, we observed a moderate to high heritability for DIS and FDK, which was in corroboration with several previous studies ( Larkin et al, 2020 ; Xu et al, 2020 ; Zhu et al, 2020 ).…”

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

“…Recently, Xu et al. (2020) discovered QTL QFhb.hbass‐3AL associated with FHB IND and at a physical position of 530.9–617.6 Mb in a spring wheat cultivar Jinagzhou 66 from China explaining up to 8% PV. Larkin et al.…”

“…Additionally, the higher correlation between the FHB traits observed in our study signifies the colocalization of mapped QTL contributing to multiple traits on chromosomes 1BL, 3BL, 5BL, 7AS, and 7AL. Quantitative trait loci for FHB INC and SEV often colocalized with each other and further with IND (Kollers et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2012; Xu et al., 2020), indicating FHB IND could generate reliable visual estimates of FHB infestation and genetic resistance in the field to detect the true associations.…”

“…Additional loci have been identified for INC, SEV, and AUDPC in resistant wheat cultivars Frontana and ND2603 (Anderson et al, 2001;Mardi et al, 2006;Steiner et al, 2004). Recently, Xu et al (2020) discovered QTL QFhb.hbass-3AL associated with FHB IND and at a physical position of 530.9-617.6 Mb in a spring wheat cultivar Jinagzhou 66 from China explaining up to 8% PV. Larkin et al (2020) detected a QTL for SEV and FDK at 347.9 and 714.3 Mb, respectively, both of which are not closer to QFhb-3AL (661.6 Mb) identified in our study.…”

Assessment of the Sensitivity of some Wheat Cultivars to the Infection of the Head Blight Disease Caused by the Fusarium pseudograminearum in South of Iraq

“…More than 100 genetic sites are related to wheat resistance to FHB disease. Studies on FHB resistance genes in wheat germline breeding and cross-breeding programs [8][9][10]. This study aimed to test the sensitivity of some wheat cultivars to being infected with head blight caused by F. pseudograminearum.…”