Abstract
Wheat founder parents have been important in the development of new wheat cultivars. Understanding the effects of specific genome regions on yield-related traits in founder variety derivatives can enable more efficient use of these genetic resources through molecular breeding. In this study, the genetic regions related to field grain number per spike (GNS) from the founder parent Linfen 5064 were analyzed using a doubled haploid (DH) population developed from a cross between Linfen 5064 and Nongda 3338. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) for five spike-related traits over nine experimental locations/years were identified, namely, total spikelet number per spike (TSS), base sterile spikelet number per spike (BSSS), top sterile spikelet number per spike (TSSS), fertile spikelet number per spike (FSS), and GNS. A total of 13 stable QTL explaining 3.91–19.51% of the phenotypic variation were found. The effect of six of these QTL, Qtss.saw-2B.1, Qtss.saw-2B.2, Qtss.saw-3B, Qfss.saw-2B.2, Qbsss.saw-5A.1, and Qgns.saw-1A, were verified by another DH population (Linfen 5064/Jinmai 47), which showed extreme significance (P < 0.05) in more than three environments. No homologs of reported grain number-related from grass species were found in the physical regions of Qtss.saw-2B.1 and Qtss.saw-3B, that indicating both of them are novel QTL, or possess novel-related genes. The positive alleles of Qtss.saw-2B.2 from Linfen 5064 have the larger effect on TSS (3.30%, 0.62) and have 66.89% in Chinese cultivars under long-term artificial selection. This study revealed three key regions for GNS in Linfen 5064 and provides insights into molecular marker-assisted breeding.
Highlights
Founder parents are successful cultivars that are cultivated in large areas but are used extensively as parents in breeding programs
The order of correlation coefficient with grain number per spike (GNS) were fertile spikelet number per spike (FSS) (0.630) > top sterile spikelet number per spike (TSSS) (−0.437) > total spikelet number per spike (TSS) (0.336) > base sterile spikelet number per spike (BSSS) (−0.162). These results showed that FSS and TSSS exerted great influence on GNS
Analyzing founder parents at the whole genome level and studying the genome regions of the founder parents of high value is important for wheat breeding, especially molecular marker-assisted breeding
Summary
Founder parents are successful cultivars that are cultivated in large areas but are used extensively as parents in breeding programs. These valuable genetic resources are crucial to Chinese wheat breeding programs (Zhuang, 2003). A Chinese wheat founder parent named Linfen 5064 is the pedigree of more than 80 high-quality strong gluten cultivars in China. Linfen 5064 and cultivars derived from it have high yields but have been used as the main parents for improving wheat quality in Chinese breeding programs. The use of Linfen 5064 as the founder parent addressed three difficult points in the breeding for strong-gluten wheat (Qiao et al, 2018). The utilization of valuable traits of Linfen 5064, and the successful future breeding program of Wheat, it is essential to explore and analyze their genetic base
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