Abstract
Key message
Genetic architecture controlling grain lutein content of common wheat was investigated through an integration of genome-wide association study (GWAS) and linkage analysis. Putative candidate genes involved in carotenoid metabolism and regulation were identified, which provide a basis for gene cloning and development of nutrient-enriched wheat varieties through molecular breeding.
Abstract
Lutein, known as ‘the eye vitamin’, is an important component of wheat nutritional and end-use quality. However, the genetic manipulation of grain lutein content (LUC) in common wheat has not previously been well studied. Here, quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with the LUC measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were first identified by integrating a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and linkage mapping. A Chinese wheat mini-core collection (MCC) of 262 accessions and a doubled haploid (DH) population derived from Jinchun 7 and L1219 were genotyped using the 90K SNP array. A total of 124 significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) on all 21 wheat chromosomes except for 1A, 4D, and 5B that formed 58 QTL were detected. Among them, six stable QTL were identified on chromosomes 2AL, 2DS, 3BL, 3DL, 7AL, and 7BS. Meanwhile, three of the ten QTL identified in the DH population, QLuc.5A.1 and QLuc.5A.2 on chromosome 5AL and QLuc.6A.2 on 6AS, were stable and independently explained 5.58–10.86% of the phenotypic variation. The QLuc.6A.2 region colocalized with two MTAs identified by GWAS. Moreover, 71 carotenoid metabolism-related candidate genes were identified, and the allelic effects were analyzed in the MCC panel based on the 90K array. Results revealed that the genes CYP97A3 (Chr. 6B) and CCD1 (Chr. 5A) were significantly associated with LUC. Additionally, the gene PSY3 (QLuc.5A.1) and several candidate genes involved in the methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathways colocalized with stable QTL regions. The present study provides potential targets for future functional gene exploration and molecular breeding in common wheat.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M670701), the Agricultural Science Research of Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YZGC013), Fund from Shanxi Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Molecular Improvement (KFJJ2019-02), and Fund from State Key Laboratory of Sustainable Dryland Agriculture, Shanxi Agricultural University (YJHZKF2103).
Funding
This study was funded by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M670701), the Agricultural Science Research of Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YZGC013), Fund from Shanxi Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Molecular Improvement (KFJJ2019-02), Fund from State Key Laboratory of Sustainable Dryland Agriculture, Shanxi Agricultural University (YJHZKF2103).
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CH and XZ conceived the project; PG, LZ, and XL carried out experiments; JJZ and LQ participated in field experiments; JZ, BW, and JH contributed to data analyses; PG analyzed experimental results; PG, XL, and JZ wrote the manuscript; XZ, CH, and JZ provided extensive revision of the manuscript.
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Figure S1
The grain lutein content (LUC) profile after saponification of the extract in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis.
Supplementary file2 (TIF 490 kb)
Figure S2
Phenotypic comparison between the 1RS.1BL wheat-rye translocation lines and non-translocation lines in the MCC panel.
Supplementary file3 (TIF 623 kb)
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Guan, P., Li, X., Zhuang, L. et al. Genetic dissection of lutein content in common wheat via association and linkage mapping. Theor Appl Genet 135, 3127–3141 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-022-04175-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-022-04175-z