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The genetics of nitrogen use in hexaploid wheat: N utilisation, development and yield

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Abstract

A genetic study is presented for traits relating to nitrogen use in wheat. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were established for 21 traits relating to growth, yield and leaf nitrogen (N) assimilation during grain fill in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) using a mapping population from the cross Chinese Spring × SQ1. Glutamine synthetase (GS) isozymes and estimated locations of 126 genes were placed on the genetic map. QTLs for flag leaf GS activity, soluble protein, extract colour and fresh weight were found in similar regions implying shared control of leaf metabolism and leaf size. Flag leaf traits were negatively associated with days to anthesis both phenotypically and genetically, demonstrating the complex interactions of metabolism with development. One QTL cluster for GS activity co-localised with a GS2 gene mapped on chromosome 2A, and another with the mapped GSr gene on 4A. QTLs for GS activity were invariably co-localised with those for grain N, with increased activity associated with higher grain N, but with no or negative correlations with grain yield components. Peduncle N was positively correlated, and QTLs co-localised, with grain N and flag leaf N assimilatory traits, suggesting that stem N can be indicative of grain N status in wheat. A major QTL for ear number per plant was identified on chromosome 6B which was negatively co-localised with leaf fresh weight, peduncle N, grain N and grain yield. This locus is involved in processes defining the control of tiller number and consequently assimilate partitioning and deserves further examination.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ben Miflin, Graham King and Robin Thompson for useful discussions and Jenny Swaine for technical help. We also thank Jan Schjoerring and Bertrand Hirel for use of GS sequence information prior to publication. This work was funded by an EU-FPV project ‘SUSTAIN’ QLK5-CT-2001-01461. Rothamsted Research is grant aided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council of the UK.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Crop Performance and Improvement Division, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, UK

    Dimah Z. Habash & Stephanie Bernard

  2. Kraljice Natalije 39, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Steve A. Quarrie

  3. Saaten-Union Resistenzlabor GmbH, Hovedisser Str. 92, 33818, Leopoldshoehe, Germany

    Jörg Schondelmaier & Jens Weyen

  4. Schools of Biology and Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

    Steve A. Quarrie

Authors
  1. Dimah Z. Habash
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  2. Stephanie Bernard
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  3. Jörg Schondelmaier
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  4. Jens Weyen
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  5. Steve A. Quarrie
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dimah Z. Habash.

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Communicated by H. H. Geiger.

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Table 1

. ESM. Primer details, fragment sizes and mapping positions of wheat GS genes using mapping populations and various genetic stocks. CS: Chinese Spring; SQ1: English breeding line of spring type; GS: glutamine synthetase; fragment sizes observed in bold are polymorphisms; fragment sizes observed in italics are polymorphisms due to differing signal ratios; primer details: mismatch in primer compared to genbank sequence indicated by underscore (PDF 19 kb)

Table 2

. ESM. Genes and mutants located on the Chinese x SQ1 genetic map, and summary information on how they were located. Locations on maize refer to Pioneer composite map 1999 (http://www.maizegdb.org/cgi-bin/displaymapresults.cgi?start=41&term=pioneer). Locations on rice refer to the RGP map of 17 January 1998 (RiceGenes http://genome.cornell.edu/rice). Gale- GrainGenes refers to the composite wheat map available at http://wheat.pw.usda.gov/cgi-bin/graingenes/report.cgi?class=mapdata&name=Wheat%2C%20Gale. Where the occurrence of a particular gene or mutant on each of the A, B and D genomes was not known, a location was assigned for each of the three genomes. E means position estimated and M means position located by mapping in CS x SQ1 population (PDF 36 kb)

Figure 1

. ESM. QTLs for grain weight per plant, ear number per plant (E), grain number per ear (G) and TGW (T) on chromosome 6B using data from our study (Rothamsted 2002) and from 10 other field experiments using the same mapping population as described in Quarrie et al. (2005), plus field trials in 2002 and 2005 in Zajecar, Serbia (Dodig and Quarrie, unpublished). QTLs were identified using linear regression marker-by-marker. Candidate genes are those described in Table 2. Ear number per plant was not measured in the Zaragoza 2000 trial. Other details are as given in Figure 1. (PDF 53 kb)

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Habash, D.Z., Bernard, S., Schondelmaier, J. et al. The genetics of nitrogen use in hexaploid wheat: N utilisation, development and yield. Theor Appl Genet 114, 403–419 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-006-0429-5

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