Genetic Architecture of Cereal Leaf Beetle Resistance in Wheat.

Tobias Würschum,Willmar L Leiser,Matthew R Tucker,Simon M Langer,Thomas Miedaner

doi:10.3390/plants9091117

Tobias Würschum, Willmar L Leiser + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9091117

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Abstract

Wheat production can be severely damaged by endemic and invasive insect pests. Here, we investigated resistance to cereal leaf beetle in a panel of 876 winter wheat cultivars, and dissected the genetic architecture underlying this insect resistance by association mapping. We observed an effect of heading date on cereal leaf beetle infestation, with earlier heading cultivars being more heavily infested. Flag leaf glaucousness was also found to be correlated with resistance. In line with the strong effect of heading time, we identified Ppd-D1 as a major quantitative trait locus (QTL), explaining 35% of the genotypic variance of cereal leaf beetle resistance. The other identified putative QTL explained much less of the genotypic variance, suggesting a genetic architecture with many small-effect QTL, which was corroborated by a genomic prediction approach. Collectively, our results add to our understanding of the genetic control underlying insect resistances in small-grain cereals.

Highlights

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important food and feed crops worldwide
This study study was was based based on on 876 and revealed genotypic variancefor forresistance resistance cereal beetle evaluated under field conditions genotypic variance to to cereal leafleaf beetle evaluated under field conditions
We investigated resistance to cereal leaf beetle in a large panel of winter wheat cultivars

Summary

Introduction

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important food and feed crops worldwide. The huge geographical distribution of wheat cultivation entails a large array of environmental conditions to which it is exposed. Fungal diseases are of great importance, but insect pests cause substantial damage to wheat production in many traditional wheat-producing areas. While pesticides can be used to control disease, the employment of genetic resistance is the most economic and environmentally friendly way of protecting crop production. With the banning of certain pesticides or entire classes thereof, as well as public trends towards reduced or even no pesticide use, the importance of developing resistant cultivars increases. A prerequisite for an efficient utilization of pest resistances in breeding is, a detailed understanding of the genetics underlying the resistance mechanism(s)

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