QTL detection of seven spike-related traits and their genetic correlations in wheat using two related RIL populations

Abstract

Spike-related traits contribute greatly to grain yield in wheat. To localize wheat chromosomes for factors affecting the seven spike-related traitsi.e., the spike length (SL), the basal sterile spikelet number (BSSN), the top sterile spikelet number (TSSN), the sterile spikelet number in total (SSN), the spikelet number per spike (SPN), the fertile spikelet number (FSN) and the spike density (SD)-two F 8:9 recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations were generated. They were derived from crosses between Weimai 8 and Jimai 20 (WJ) and between Weimai 8 and Yannong 19 (WY), comprising 485 and 229 lines, respectively. Combining the two new linkage maps and the phenotypic data collected from the four environments, we conducted quantitative trait locus (QTL) detection for the seven spike-related traits and evaluated their genetic correlations. Up to 190 putative additive QTL for the seven spike-related traits were detected in WJ and WY, distributing across all the 21 wheat chromosomes. Of these, at least nine pairwise QTL were common to the two populations. In addition, 38 QTL showed significance in at least two of the four different environments, and 18 of these were major stable QTL. Thus, they will be of great value for marker assisted selection (MAS) in breeding programs. Though co-located QTL were universal, every trait owned its unique QTL and even two closely related traits were not excluded. The two related populations with a large/moderate population size F. Cui, A. Ding, J. Li and C. Zhao contributed equally to this work.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (made the results authentic and accurate. This study will enhance the understanding of the genetic basis of spike-related traits.

QTL Analysis of Spike Morphological Traits and Plant Height in Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Using a High-Density SNP and SSR-Based Linkage Map

“…This locus has been associated with QTLs for plant height, spike length, spikelet number, spikelet compactness, thousand grain weight, and grain yield (Ma et al, 2007; Cui et al, 2012; Xu et al, 2014; Wang Y. S. et al, 2015). In this study, The QPht.cau-2D.1 locus was detected to have pleiotropic effects for SL, SSN, SC, and PHT.…”

“…Notably, consistent QTLs across multiple genetic backgrounds have been identified on chromosomes 1B, 2D, 4B, 5A, and 7A (Jantasuriyarat et al, 2004; Kumar et al, 2007; Cui et al, 2012; Xu et al, 2014). However, to our knowledge, most studies mapping QTLs for spike morphological traits and plant height used low-density genetic maps and mapped QTLs within relatively large confidence intervals, hence hindering their possible applications in wheat breeding programs.…”

“…Over the past two decades, the successful application of quantitative-genetic methodology has facilitated identification of numerous QTLs for spike morphological traits and plant height on all 21 wheat chromosomes (Cui et al, 2012). Notably, consistent QTLs across multiple genetic backgrounds have been identified on chromosomes 1B, 2D, 4B, 5A, and 7A (Jantasuriyarat et al, 2004; Kumar et al, 2007; Cui et al, 2012; Xu et al, 2014).…”

Cytogenetic and molecular identification of a new wheat-Thinopyrum intermediumaddition line with resistance to powdery mildew

“…A total of 557 G-SSR, EST-SSR, and STS molecular markers from E and J genomes were screened by our laboratory. The molecular markers and SSR methods followed the methods described in the study by Cui et al (2012). The reaction volume used was 10 μℓ.…”

Past, Present and Future Molecular Approaches to Improve Yield in Wheat

“…For example, molecular markers such as SSR and DArT have been used to detect QTLs for fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance, which can further be implemented in breeding studies [14]. Since 2007, a number of research studies have been taken to identify QTLs related to yield based on diferent mapping populations such as kernel length, kernel width, spike length, spike number, the grain number of spike, sterile spikelet number per spike, fertile spikelet number per spike, and thousand kernel weight [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. However, the development of molecular markers and their applications in breeding have been relatively diicult in wheat because of its three closely related subgenomes and a large genome size consisted of high amounts (80%) of repetitive sequences.…”