Targeting the B1 Gene and Analysis of Its Polymorphism Associated with Awned/Awnless Trait in Russian Germplasm Collections of Common Wheat

Abstract

The presence of awns on the ear is associated with a number of important plant properties, such as drought resistance, quality of the grain mass during processing, etc. The main manifestations of this trait are controlled by the B1 gene, which has recently been identified and encodes the C2H2 zinc finger transcription factor. Based on the previously identified SNPs in the promoter region of this gene, we constructed markers for dominant and recessive alleles which determine awnless and awned phenotypes, respectively. The markers were successful for use in targeting the respective alleles of the B1 gene in 176 varieties of common wheat, accessions of T. spelta L., as well as on F2/F3 hybrids from crosses between awned and awnless forms of T. aestivum. We first identified a new allele, b1mite, which has both an insert of a miniature Stowaway-like transposon, 261 bp in length, and 33 novel SNPs in the promoter region. Despite these changes, this allele had no effect on the awned phenotype. The possible mechanisms of the influence of the analyzed gene on phenotype are discussed.

Identification of Novel Loci Precisely Modulating Pre-Harvest Sprouting Resistance and Red Color Components of the Seed Coat in T. aestivum L.

“…This full collection consisted of 169 winter wheat accessions belonging to different varieties and included 16 breeding lines with different geographical origins. The collection was described previously [74]. Here, we analyzed 159 red-grained accessions only.…”

The TaTCP4/10–B1 cascade regulates awn elongation in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

“…This may be attributed to their xeromorphic characteristics, their contribution to the assimilation tissues of wheat, and the fact that their most productive stage coincides with the period of most rapid seed development ( Grundbacher, 1963 ; Evans et al., 1972 ). However, given the emergence and popularization of mechanical grain harvesting, awnless wheat has more technological advantages than awned wheat because the presence of awns blocks the equipment and reduces threshing efficiency to some extent ( Wurschum et al., 2020 ; Shcherban et al., 2021 ). Therefore, awnless and awned wheats each have their own advantages, and it is necessary to use genetically diverse resources to create cultivars with moderate awns through wheat breeding.…”

Olga P. Mitrofanova (celebrating the 75^th birthday)

“…Научные интересы Ольги Павловны сосредоточены на исследовании генетических ресурсов пшеницы (Mitrofanova, 2012;Mitrofanova et al, 2016), направленном на выявление особенностеи� эволюции рода Triticum L. (Dragovich et al, 2009;Riaz et al, 2016;Novoselskaya-Dragovich et al, 2018;Badaeva et al, 2018;Temirbekova et al, 2019), на оценку генетического разнообразия пшеницы (Fadeeva et al, 2020;Fadeeva et al, 2022), на выявление особенно-стеи� наследования селекционно значимых признаков (Plotnikova et al, 2018;Riaz et al, 2018;Lysenko et al, 2019;Zverev et al, 2020;Shcherban et al, 2021;Gultyaeva et al, 2022), на маркирование ценных генов и разработку тех-нологии� маркер-контролируемого отбора (совместно с лабораториеи� молекулярнои� селекции и ДНК-паспортизации) (Porotnikov et al, 2020;Porotnikov et al, 2022a;Porotnikov et al, 2022b), на изучение линии� , созданных от скрещивания мягкои� озимои� пшеницы с рожью (Pyukkenen et al, 2019), и линии� синтетическои� гексаплоиднои� пшеницы (Khakimova et al, 2019;Khakimova et al, 2021).…”