Chromosomal passports provide new insights into diffusion of emmer wheat.

Ekaterina D Badaeva,Hakan Özkan,Benjamin Kilian,Helmut Knüpffer,Olga A Liapunova,George Willcox,Andreas Graner,Louise Waßermann,Olga S Dedkova,Vitaly A Pukhalskiy,Olga N Kovaleva,Jens Keilwagen,Olga P Mitrofanova,Roberto Papa

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0128556

Abstract

Emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccon schrank (syn. T. dicoccum (schrank) schÜbl.), is one of the earliest domesticated crops, harboring a wide range of genetic diversity and agronomically valuable traits. The crop, however, is currently largely neglected. We provide a wealth of karyotypic information from a comprehensive collection of emmer wheat and related taxa. In addition to C-banding polymorphisms, we identified 43 variants of chromosomal rearrangements in T. dicoccon; among them 26 (60.4%) were novel. The T7A:5B translocation was most abundant in Western Europe and the Mediterranean. The plant genetic resources investigated here might become important in the future for wheat improvement. Based on cluster analysis four major karyotypic groups were discriminated within the T. dicoccon genepool, each harboring characteristic C-banding patterns and translocation spectra: the balkan, asian, european and ethiopian groups. We postulate four major diffusion routes of the crop and discuss their migration out of the Fertile Crescent considering latest archaeobotanical findings.

Highlights

Based on cluster analysis four major karyotypic groups were discriminated within the T. dicoccon genepool, each harboring characteristic C-banding patterns and translocation spectra: the BALKAN, ASIAN, EUROPEAN and ETHIOPIAN groups
Among them we investigated 446 lines of T. dicoccon collected from 47 countries, 105 lines of T. dicoccoides from seven countries, covering its whole present-day natural distribution range, 10 lines of T. durum, 5 lines of T. karamyschevii NEVSKI
Four major karyotypic groups were discriminated by k-medoid analysis, in accordance with taxonomical [13,26] and molecular studies [30]

Summary

Introduction

T. dicoccum (SCHRANK) SCHÜBL.), is one of the earliest domesticated crops. Barley, lentil, pea, and flax, it constituted the ‘founder crop assemblage’ on which ‘Old World’ agriculture was built [1]. Chromosomal Passports for the Analysis of Emmer Diffusion experimental part of the study. He is an employee of the commercial company Bayer CropScience NV, Innovation Center; this does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The authors have declared that no competing interests exist

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion