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Mapping of main and epistatic effect QTLs associated to grain protein and gluten strength using a RIL population of durum wheat

  • Plant Genetics ∙ Original Paper
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Abstract

Quality, specifically protein content and gluten strength are among the main objectives of a durum wheat breeding program. The aim of this work was to validate quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with grain protein content (GPC) and gluten strength measured by SDS sedimentation volume (SV) and to find additional QTLs expressed in Argentinean environments. Also, epistatic QTL and QTL x environmental interactions were analyzed. A mapping population of 93 RILs derived from the cross UC1113 x Kofa showing extreme values in gluten quality was used. Phenotypic data were collected along six environments (three locations, two years). Main effect QTLs associated with GPC were found in equivalent positions in two environments on chromosomes 3BS (R2 = 21.0-21.6%) and 7BL (R2 = 12.1-13%), and in one environment on chromosomes 1BS, 2AL, 2BS, 3BL, 4AL, 5AS, 5BL and 7AS. The most important and stable QTL affecting SV was located on chromosome 1BL (Glu-B1) consistently detected over the six environments (R2 = 20.9- 54.2%). Additional QTLs were found in three environments on chromosomes 6AL (R2 = 6.4-12.5%), and in two environments on chromosomes 6BL (R2 = 11.5-12.1%), 7AS (R2 = 8.2-10.2%) and 4BS (R2 = 11–16.4%). In addition, pleiotropic effects were found affecting grain yield, test weight, thousand-kernel- weight and days to heading in some of these QTLs. Epistatic QTLs and QTL x environment interactions were found for both quality traits, mostly for GPC. The flanking markers of the QTLs detected in this work could be efficient tools to select superior genotypes for the mentioned traits.

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Abbreviations

GPC:

Grain protein content

SV:

SDS sedimentation volume

RIL:

Recombinant inbred line

QTL:

Quantitative trait locus

GY:

Grain yield

TKW:

Thousand kernel weight

TW:

Test weight

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Jorge Dubcovsky for providing us with the molecular map and the mapping population to conduct the present analysis. This project was granted by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), the Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS) and the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT). We thank Pablo Mandolesi for technical support and José H. Bariffi, Liliana Wehrhahne, Pavan Akkiraju and Partricia Gomez for helping us with the field experiments. We also thank very much Dr. John Rogers from Universidad Nacional del Centro, Bs. As., Argentina for reading the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INTA EEA Bordenave, Ruta Pcial. 76 km. 36.5, 8187, Bordenave, Argentina

    Veronica Conti

  2. Laboratorio de Biotecnología Vegetal, CERZOS-CONICET, CCT, La Carrindanga km 7, Bahía Blanca, Camino, Argentina

    Pablo F. Roncallo, Valeria Beaufort & Viviana C. Echenique

  3. Departamento de Agronomía, Universidad Nacional del Sur, San, Andrés 800, 8000, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

    Pablo F. Roncallo, Valeria Beaufort & Viviana C. Echenique

  4. CEFOBI-CONICET, Suipacha 53,1 S2002 LRK, Rosario, Argentina

    Gerardo L. Cervigni

  5. Asociación de Cooperativas Argentinas, Ruta 51 km 710, 8118, Cabildo, Argentina

    Ruben Miranda

  6. INTA. CEI Barrow, Ruta 3 Km 487, 7500, Tres Arroyos, Argentina

    Carlos A. Jensen

Authors
  1. Veronica Conti
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  2. Pablo F. Roncallo
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  3. Valeria Beaufort
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  4. Gerardo L. Cervigni
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  5. Ruben Miranda
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  6. Carlos A. Jensen
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  7. Viviana C. Echenique
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Viviana C. Echenique.

Additional information

Veronica Conti and Pablo F. Roncallo contributed equally to this manuscript.

Electronic supplementary material

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Table S1

Grain protein content (GPC) and SDS sedimentation volume (SV) values from eight Argentinean cultivars of durum wheat growing in six environments of Argentina (DOC 132 kb)

Table S2

Threshold LOD values in each environment and using the mean data of the six environments at 5% and 10% of probability for type I error (DOC 28 kb)

Table S3

Pearson simple correlation coefficients (r) among environments for grain protein content (GPC) and SDS sedimentation volume (SV) in the UC1113 x Kofa RILs mapping population (DOC 32 kb)

Table S4

Fertilization practices performed in each environment (DOC 30 kb)

Table S5

Rainfall condition and monthly temperatures (minimum, mean and maximum) in the six growing environments used in the QTL mapping analyses (DOC 77 kb)

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Conti, V., Roncallo, P.F., Beaufort, V. et al. Mapping of main and epistatic effect QTLs associated to grain protein and gluten strength using a RIL population of durum wheat. J Appl Genetics 52, 287–298 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13353-011-0045-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13353-011-0045-1

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