Turkish durum wheat conserved ex‐situ and in situ unveils a new hotspot of unexplored genetic diversity

Abstract

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L.) is the 10 th most cultivated crop and is a vital food source for human consumption. Genetic diversity in durum wheat is still an unexplored subject, and gene banks are filled with accessions waiting to be screened. Here, four different groups of durum wheat, Turkish and foreign cultivars, and in situ and ex situ landraces were evaluated for population structure and genetic diversity. A collection of 129 durum wheat accessions were genotyped, with a total of 6,357 markers (SilicoDArT, SNP [single-nucleotide polymorphism], and simple sequence repeats [SSRs]). The highest mean allele number per marker (1.562) was obtained with SNP markers in ex situ landraces; the lowest mean allele number per marker (0.788) was obtained with SSR markers in the foreign cultivars. The minimum percentage of polymorphic loci was 38.70% observed with SSR markers in foreign cultivars; the maximum was 76.20% in SilicoDArT markers in ex situ landraces. According to Neighbor-Joining analyses, the studied collection was divided into groups of cultivars and landraces, with some level of admixtures. Structure and principal coordinate analysis obtained distinct clusters for ex situ landraces and foreign cultivars, supported by Neighbor-Joining analysis. A significant level of intergroup and intragroup variation was observed, and Turkish ex situ landraces were found as the most diverse and distinct group in the collection. Turkish landraces may be a promising source of novel allelic diversity that can be used in durum wheat breeding worldwide. INTRODUCTIONDurum wheat (Triticum turgidum Desf. 'durum') belongs to the genus Triticeae and is the 10th most cultivated crop, with

Genetic approaches to exploit landraces for improvement of Triticum turgidum ssp. durum in the age of climate change

“…These analyses were often focused on panels of landraces with a specific geographical origin. Population structure analysis was conducted for example in Iranian, Ethiopian, Tunisian, Turkish, and Italian germplasm revealing that, in most cases, landraces clustered separately from modern cultivars (Fayaz et al, 2019;Alemu et al, 2020;Alsaleh et al, 2022;Miazzi et al, 2022). Interestingly, a high level of genetic variation within landrace populations was detected, according to their geographical and climate of origin, revealing the importance of these factors in shaping wheat genome (Alipour et al, 2017;Taranto et al, 2022).…”

Genome‐wide association analysis of coleoptile length and interaction with plant height in durum wheat

“…Each genotype was further developed using the single‐seed descent method. The panel was built from four different sets, including 47 Turkish cultivars (Turkish cultivars), 19 foreign cultivars (Foreign cultivars), 42 gene bank landraces (hereafter ex situ LDs) obtained from the National Genebank at Aegean Agricultural Research Institute in İzmir, Turkey, and 15 landraces (hereafter in situ LDs), which are most popular among farmers and grown locally on a significant scale, especially in Southeastern Turkey (Alsaleh et al., 2022).…”

“…Therefore, it is imperative to jointly monitor these traits to unveil their genetic mechanisms and interconnections. Therefore, in this study, we screened a durum wheat panel representing a wide genetic diversity (Alsaleh et al., 2022) to assess the coleoptile length and plant height traits, dissect marker–trait associations (MTAs), and identify candidate genes using a GWAS mapping approach and a dense set of SNP and Silico‐DArT markers.…”

From Grain to Genome: Investigating Arsenic Levels in Triticum turgidum ssp durum Desf. Using GWAS

“…The panel consisted of four sets, including 50 released cultivars from Türkiye (referred to as Turkish CVs), 21 foreign cultivars from various countries (referred to as foreign CVs), 44 gene bank landraces (referred to as ex-situ LDs) from the National Genebank in İzmir/Türkiye, and 15 landraces (referred to as in situ LDs) commonly grown by domestic farmers, particularly in southeastern Türkiye. This same panel has been used in previous studies, including research on diversity structure (Alsaleh et al, 2022a) and assessments of cadmium and platinum in Turkish durum wheat diversity (Alsaleh et al, 2022b,c). For additional information on these genotypes, please refer to Table 1a, 1b, and 1c.…”