Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

QTL analysis of falling number and seed longevity in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

  • Plant Genetics • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Applied Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) and seed longevity (SL) are complex biological processes of major importance for agricultural production. In the present study, a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from a cross between the German winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars History and Rubens was used to identify genetic factors controlling these two physiological seed traits. A falling number (FN) test was employed to evaluate PHS, while SL was measured using a germination test (and the speed of germination) after controlled deterioration. FN of the population was assessed in four environments; SL traits were measured in one environment. Four major quantitative trait loci (QTL) for FN were detected on chromosomes 4D, 5A, 5D, and 7B, whereas for SL traits, a major QTL was found on chromosome 1A. The FN QTL on chromosome 4D that coincided with the position of the dwarfing gene Rht-D1b only had effects in environments that were free of PHS. The remaining three QTL for FN were mostly pronounced under conditions conducive to PHS. The QTL on the long arm of chromosome 7B corresponded to the major gene locus controlling late maturity α-amylase (LMA) in wheat. The severity of the LMA phenotype became truly apparent under sprouting conditions. The position on the long arm of chromosome 1A of the QTL for SL points to a new QTL for this important regenerative seed trait.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akbari M, Wenzl P, Caig V, Carling J, Xia L, Yang S, Uszynski G, Mohler V, Lehmensiek A, Kuchel H, Hayden MJ, Howes N, Sharp P, Vaughan P, Rathmell B, Huttner E, Kilian A (2006) Diversity arrays technology (DArT) for high-throughput profiling of the hexaploid wheat genome. Theor Appl Genet 113:1409–1420

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Albrecht T, Oberforster M, Kempf H, Ramgraber L, Schacht J, Kazman E, Zechner E, Neumayer A, Hartl L, Mohler V (2015) Genome-wide association mapping of preharvest sprouting resistance in a diversity panel of European winter wheats. J Appl Genet 56:277–285

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Churchill GA, Doerge RW (1994) Empirical threshold values for quantitative trait mapping. Genetics 138:963–971

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Clerkx EJM, El-Lithy ME, Vierling E, Ruys GJ, Blankestijn-De Vries H, Groot SPC, Vreugdenhil D, Koornneef M (2004) Analysis of natural allelic variation of Arabidopsis seed germination and seed longevity traits between the accessions Landsberg erecta and Shakdara, using a new recombinant inbred line population. Plant Physiol 135:432–443

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Doerge RW, Churchill GA (1996) Permutation tests for multiple loci affecting a quantitative character. Genetics 142:285–294

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis RH, Hong TD, Roberts EH, Tao KL (1990) Low moisture content limits to relations between seed longevity and moisture. Ann Bot 65:493–504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emebiri LC, Oliver JR, Mrva K, Mares D (2010) Association mapping of late maturity α-amylase (LMA) activity in a collection of synthetic hexaploid wheat. Mol Breed 26:29–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flintham JE, Gale MD (1982) The Tom Thumb dwarfing gene, Rht3 in wheat, I. Reduced pre-harvest damage to breadmaking quality. Theor Appl Genet 62:121–126

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Flintham JE, Börner A, Worland AJ, Gale MD (1997) Optimizing wheat grain yield: effects of Rht (gibberellin-insensitive) dwarfing genes. J Agric Sci 128:11–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groos C, Gay G, Perretant MR, Gervais L, Bernard M, Dedryver F, Charmet G (2002) Study of the relationship between pre-harvest sprouting and grain color by quantitative trait loci analysis in a white × red grain bread-wheat cross. Theor Appl Genet 104:39–47

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guo LB, Zhu LH, Xu YB, Zeng DL, Wu P, Qian Q (2004) QTL analysis of seed dormancy in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Euphytica 140:155–162

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hay FR, Adams J, Manger K, Probert R (2008) The use of non-saturated lithium chloride solutions for experimental control of seed water content. Seed Sci Technol 36:737–746

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holzapfel J, Voss H-H, Miedaner T, Korzun V, Häberle J, Schweizer G, Mohler V, Zimmermann G, Hartl L (2008) Inheritance of resistance to Fusarium head blight in three European winter wheat populations. Theor Appl Genet 117:1119–1128

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huang X, Zeller FJ, Hsam SLK, Wenzel G, Mohler V (2000) Chromosomal location of AFLP markers in common wheat utilizing nulli-tetrasomic stocks. Genome 43:298–305

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) (2015) International rules for seed testing. ISTA, Bassersdorf, Switzerland

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaiswal V, Mir RR, Mohan A, Balyan HS, Gupta PK (2012) Association mapping for pre-harvest sprouting tolerance in common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Euphytica 188:89–102

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Joosen RVL, Kodde J, Willems LAJ, Ligterink W, van der Plas LHW, Hilhorst HWM (2010) GERMINATOR: a software package for high-throughput scoring and curve fitting of Arabidopsis seed germination. Plant J 62:148–159

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kao CH, Zeng ZB, Teasdale RD (1999) Multiple interval mapping for quantitative trait loci. Genetics 152:1203–1216

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kulwal PL, Singh R, Balyan HS, Gupta PK (2004) Genetic basis of pre-harvest sprouting tolerance using single-locus and two-locus QTL analyses in bread wheat. Funct Integr Genomics 4:94–101

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kulwal P, Ishikawa G, Benscher D, Feng Z, Yu LX, Jadhav A, Mehetre S, Sorrells ME (2012) Association mapping for pre-harvest sprouting resistance in white winter wheat. Theor Appl Genet 125:793–805

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lander ES, Botstein D (1989) Mapping mendelian factors underlying quantitative traits using RFLP linkage maps. Genetics 121:185–199

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Landjeva S, Lohwasser U, Börner A (2010) Genetic mapping within the wheat D genome reveals QTL for germination, seed vigour and longevity, and early seedling growth. Euphytica 171:129–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lebreton CM, Visscher PM (1998) Empirical nonparametric bootstrap strategies in quantitative trait loci mapping: conditioning on the genetic model. Genetics 148:525–535

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lohwasser U, Rehman Arif MA, Börner A (2013) Discovery of loci determining pre-harvest sprouting and dormancy in wheat and barley applying segregation and association mapping. Biol Plant 57:663–674

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maccaferri M, Zhang J, Bulli P, Abate Z, Chao S, Cantu D, Bossolini E, Chen X, Pumphrey M, Dubcovsky J (2015) A genome-wide association study of resistance to stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) in a worldwide collection of hexaploid spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) G3 (Bethesda) 5:449–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manley M, du Toit G, Geladi P (2011) Tracking diffusion of conditioning water in single wheat kernels of different hardnesses by near infrared hyperspectral imaging. Anal Chim Acta 686:64–75

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mares D, Mrva K (2008) Late-maturity α-amylase: low falling number in wheat in the absence of preharvest sprouting. J Cereal Sci 47:6–17

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mares DJ, Mrva K (2014) Wheat grain preharvest sprouting and late maturity alpha-amylase. Planta 240:1167–1178

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mares D, Mrva K, Cheong J, Williams K, Watson B, Storlie E, Sutherland M, Zou Y (2005) A QTL located on chromosome 4A associated with dormancy in white- and red-grained wheats of diverse origin. Theor Appl Genet 111:1357–1364

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miedaner T, Risser P, Paillard S, Schnurbusch T, Keller B, Hartl L, Holzapfel J, Korzun V, Ebmeyer E, Utz HF (2012) Broad-spectrum resistance loci for three quantitatively inherited diseases in two winter wheat populations. Mol Breed 29:731–742

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Miura K, Lin S, Yano M, Nagamine T (2002) Mapping quantitative trait loci controlling seed longevity in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Theor Appl Genet 104:981–986

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mohler V, Albrecht T, Mrva K, Schweizer G, Hartl L (2014) Genetic analysis of falling number in three bi-parental common winter wheat populations. Plant Breed 133:448–453

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mrva K, Mares DJ (2001) Quantitative trait locus analysis of late maturity α-amylase in wheat using the doubled haploid population cranbrook x halberd. Aust J Agric Res 52:1267–1273

  • Nagel M, Börner A (2010) The longevity of crop seeds stored under ambient conditions. Seed Sci Res 20:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagel M, Behrens AK, Börner A (2013) Effects of Rht dwarfing alleles on wheat seed vigour after controlled deterioration. Crop Pasture Sci 64:857–864

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura S, Komatsuda T, Miura H (2007) Mapping diploid wheat homologues of Arabidopsis seed ABA signaling genes and QTLs for seed dormancy. Theor Appl Genet 114:1129–1139

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pestsova EG, Börner A, Röder MS (2006) Development and QTL assessment of Triticum aestivum–Aegilops tauschii introgression lines. Theor Appl Genet 112:634–647

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2015) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasul G, Humphreys DG, Brûlé-Babel A, McCartney CA, Knox RE, DePauw RM, Somers DJ (2009) Mapping QTLs for pre-harvest sprouting traits in the spring wheat cross ‘RL4452/AC Domain’. Euphytica 168:363–378

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rehman Arif MA, Nagel M, Neumann K, Kobiljski B, Lohwasser U, Börner A (2012a) Genetic studies of seed longevity in hexaploid wheat using segregation and association mapping approaches. Euphytica 186:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rehman Arif MA, Neumann K, Nagel M, Kobiljski B, Lohwasser U, Börner A (2012b) An association mapping analysis of dormancy and pre-harvest sprouting in wheat. Euphytica 188:409–417

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rehman Arif MA, Nagel M, Lohwasser U, Börner A (2017) Genetic architecture of seed longevity in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). J Biosci 42:81–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmolke M, Zimmermann G, Buerstmayr H, Schweizer G, Miedaner T, Korzun V, Ebmeyer E, Hartl L (2005) Molecular mapping of Fusarium head blight resistance in the winter wheat population Dream/Lynx. Theor Appl Genet 111:747–756

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van De Velde K, Chandler PM, Van Der Straeten D, Rohde A (2017) Differential coupling of gibberellin responses by Rht-B1c suppressor alleles and Rht-B1b in wheat highlights a unique role for the DELLA N-terminus in dormancy. J Exp Bot 68:443–455

    Google Scholar 

  • Voorrips RE (2002) MapChart: software for the graphical presentation of linkage maps and QTLs. J Heredity 93:77–78

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Walters C, Wheeler LM, Grotenhuis JM (2005) Longevity of seeds stored in a genebank: species characteristics. Seed Sci Res 15:1–20

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zeng DL, Guo LB, Xu YB, Yasukumi K, Zhu LH, Qian Q (2006) QTL analysis of seed storability in rice. Plant Breed 125:57–60

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Susanne Wüllner and Drs. Bianca Büttner and Günther Schweizer from LfL for running the Fluidigm marker assays. Prof. Thomas Miedaner (University of Hohenheim) kindly provided DArT marker data. We thank Dr. Johannes Schacht (Limagrain GmbH) for growing the History/Rubens RIL population.

Funding

Parts of the work presented here were supported by the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Technology, the Gemeinschaft zur Förderung der privaten deutschen Pflanzenzüchtung e.V. (GFP), the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), and the Austrian Seed Association (CORNET project 834766; IGF no. 75 EN/1).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Corrensstr. 3, OT Gatersleben, 06466, Stadt Seeland, Germany

    Andreas Börner, Manuela Nagel & Monika Agacka-Mołdoch

  2. Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation, State Research Institute, ul. Czartoryskich 8, 24-100, Puławy, Poland

    Monika Agacka-Mołdoch

  3. Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Gartenbau, Dezernat 52, Prüf- und Anerkennungsstelle für Saat- und Pflanzgut, Schiepziger Str. 29, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Peter Ulrich Gierke

  4. Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Institute for Sustainable Plant Production, Spargelfeldstr. 191, 1220, Vienna, Austria

    Michael Oberforster

  5. Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture (LfL), Institute for Crop Science and Plant Breeding, Am Gereuth 6, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Theresa Albrecht & Volker Mohler

Authors
  1. Andreas Börner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Manuela Nagel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Monika Agacka-Mołdoch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Peter Ulrich Gierke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Michael Oberforster
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Theresa Albrecht
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Volker Mohler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

AB and VM conceived the research. MN, MA-M, PUG, TA, and MO performed and analyzed experiments. VM performed QTL analysis. VM, TA, and AB wrote the manuscript. All authors commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Andreas Börner or Volker Mohler.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

Communicated by: Barbara Naganowska

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(PDF 951 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Börner, A., Nagel, M., Agacka-Mołdoch, M. et al. QTL analysis of falling number and seed longevity in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). J Appl Genetics 59, 35–42 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13353-017-0422-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13353-017-0422-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation