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Genetic dissection of quantitative trait loci for grain size and weight by high-resolution genetic mapping in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

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Abstract

Key message

Six major QTLs for wheat grain size and weight were identified on chromosomes 4A, 4B, 5A and 6A across multiple environments, and were validated in different genetic backgrounds.

Abstract

Grain size and weight are crucial components of wheat yield. Dissection of their genetic control is thus essential for the improvement of yield potential in wheat breeding. We used a doubled haploid (DH) population to detect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for grain width (GW), grain length (GL), and thousand grain weight (TGW) in five environments. Six major QTLs, QGw.cib-4B.2, QGl.cib-4A, QGl.cib-5A.1, QGl.cib-6A, QTgw.cib-4B, and QTgw.cib-5A, were consistently identified in at least three individual environments and in best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) datasets, and explained 5.65–34.06% of phenotypic variation. QGw.cib-4B.2, QTgw.cib-4B, QGl.cib-5A.1 and QGl.cib-6A had no effect on grain number per spike (GNS). In addition to QGl.cib-4A, the other major QTLs were further validated by using Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) markers in different genetic backgrounds. Moreover, significant interactions between the three major GL QTLs and two major TGW QTLs were observed. Comparison analysis showed that QGl.cib-5A.1 and QGl.cib-6A are likely new loci. Notably, QGw.cib-4B.2 and QTgw.cib-4B were co-located on chromosome 4B and improved TGW by increasing only GW, unlike nearby or overlapped loci reported previously. Three genes associated with grain development within the QGw.cib-4B.2/QTgw.cib-4B interval were identified by searches on sequence similarity, spatial expression patterns, and orthologs. The major QTLs and KASP markers reported here will be useful for elucidating the genetic architecture of grain size and weight and for developing new wheat cultivars with high and stable yield.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Triticeae Multi-omics Center (http://202.194.139.32/) for providing an integrated platform of tools and genomic data bringing great convenience to our work. Prof. Mujun Yang of Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences is also acknowledged for the help in developing DH population.

Funding

This work is supported by Science and Technology Support Project of Sichuan Province, China (2021YFYZ0027), National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFD0100102), Key Project of Crop Breeding of Sichuan Province (2021YFYZ0002), Science and technology projects of Sichuan Province (2020YFSY0049), and Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA08020205).

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TL undertook the field trials, data analysis and drafted this manuscript. GD assisted in field trials. YS, ZY, YT, JW, JZ, XQ and XP participated in phenotype measurement. WY, JL and ZL developed and provided us the CC population. MY, HZ and JL discussed results and revised the manuscript. HL and WY designed the experiments, guided the entire study, participated in data analysis, discussed results and revised the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yuming Wei or Hai Long.

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All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The authors declare that this research has no human and animal participants and that the experiments comply with the current laws of China.

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All data used in this study were present in the manuscript and supporting materials.

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Communicated by Xianchun Xia.

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Li, T., Deng, G., Su, Y. et al. Genetic dissection of quantitative trait loci for grain size and weight by high-resolution genetic mapping in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Theor Appl Genet 135, 257–271 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-021-03964-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-021-03964-2

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