Abstract
Key message
We identified stable QTL for grain morphology and yield component traits in a wheat defective grain filling line and validated genetic effects in a panel of cultivars using breeding-relevant markers.
Abstract
Grain filling capacity is essential for grain yield and appearance quality in cereal crops. Identification of genetic loci for grain filling is important for wheat improvement. However, there are few genetic studies on grain filling in wheat. Here, a defective grain filling (DGF) line wdgf1 characterized by shrunken grains was identified in a population derived from multi-round crosses involving nine parents and a recombinant inbreed line (RIL) population was generated from the cross between wdgf1 and a sister line with normal grains. We constructed a genetic map of the RIL population using the wheat 15K single nucleotide polymorphism chip and detected 25 stable quantitative trait loci (QTL) for grain morphology and yield components, including three for DGF, eleven for grain size, six for thousand grain weight, three for grain number per spike and two for spike number per m2. Among them, QDGF.caas-7A is co-located with QTGW.caas-7A and can explain 39.4–64.6% of the phenotypic variances, indicating that this QTL is a major locus controlling DGF. Sequencing and linkage mapping showed that TaSus2-2B and Rht-B1 were candidate genes for QTGW.caas-2B and the QTL cluster (QTGW.caas-4B, QGNS.caas-4B, and QSN.caas-4B), respectively. We developed kompetitive allele-specific PCR markers tightly linked to the stable QTL without corresponding to known yield-related genes, and validated their genetic effects in a diverse panel of wheat cultivars. These findings not only lay a solid foundation for genetic dissection underlying grain filling and yield formation, but also provide useful tools for marker-assisted breeding.
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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
We are grateful to Prof. Robert McIntosh, Plant Breeding Institute, University of Sydney, for revising this manuscript.
Funding
This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFF1002904, 2022YFD1201500) and the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).
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B. Y. Liu and S. H. Cao wrote the draft manuscript; B. Y. Liu, L. L. Li and C. Fu performed the experiments; B. Y. Liu, L. L. Li, J. Y. Du, Y. J. Zhang, B. Bai, J. Q. Zeng; Y. J. Bian, S. Y. Liu, J. Song, L. X. Luo, L. N. Xie, M. J. Sun and X. W. Xu participated in field trials; J. Y. Du, Y. J. Zhang, B. Bai and S. H. Cao generated and screened mutant materials; S. H. Cao designed the experiments; X. C. Xia, J. Y. Du, Y. J. Zhang and B. Bai assisted in writing the paper.
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Liu, B., Li, L., Fu, C. et al. Genetic dissection of grain morphology and yield components in a wheat line with defective grain filling. Theor Appl Genet 136, 165 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-023-04410-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-023-04410-1