High Resolution Melting and Insertion Site-Based Polymorphism Markers for Wheat Variability Analysis and Candidate Genes Selection at Drought and Heat MQTL Loci

Rosa Mérida-García,Laura Pascual,Sergio Gálvez,Patricia Giraldo,Etienne Paux,Gabriel Dorado,Pilar Hernandez

doi:10.3390/agronomy10091294

Abstract

The practical use of molecular markers is facilitated by cost-effective detection techniques. In this work, wheat insertion site-based polymorphisms (ISBP) markers were set up for genotyping using high-resolution melting analysis (HRM). Polymorphic HRM-ISBP assays were developed for wheat chromosomes 4A and 3B and used for wheat variability assessment. The marker sequences were mapped against the wheat genome reference sequence, targeting interesting genes. Those genes were located within or in proximity to previously described quantitative trait loci (QTL) or meta-quantitative trait loci (MQTL) for drought and heat stress tolerance, and also yield and yield related traits. Eighteen of the markers used tagged drought related genes and, interestingly, eight of the genes were differentially expressed under different abiotic stress conditions. These results confirmed HRM as a cost-effective and efficient tool for wheat breeding programs.

Highlights

Wheat is among the most important and widely grown crops worldwide [1] and one of the most important grain food crops in the human diet
The high-resolution melting analysis (HRM) pattern type assignment was based on the pattern of normalized high-resolution typeand assignment was based on the pattern normalized high-resolution melting melting curvespattern obtained, their potential to genotype a highofnumber of varieties
Thirteen of the developed insertion site-based polymorphisms (ISBP) markers were used for wheat variability assessment and showed melting curve polymorphisms, seven of them with a Polymorphism Index Content (PIC) value higher than 0.50

Summary

Introduction

Wheat is among the most important and widely grown crops worldwide [1] and one of the most important grain food crops in the human diet (https://www.fao.org). Drought is considered one of the most limiting environmental factors [3,11,12], strongly affecting the growth [13,14] and production of crops, with significant reductions in the final yield of cereals, including wheat [13]. Heat stress usually affects crops during the post-anthesis period, with negative effects on final production [15] and end-use quality products [16]. Wheat breeding programmes are necessary to ensure an improved selection of favorable alleles focused on interesting agronomic traits, as yield and quality, and biotic and abiotic stresses tolerance [30,31]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion