Identification and Validation of a Novel Major QTL Controlling Leaf Pubescence in the Chinese Wheat Landrace ‘Baimaomai’

Zehou Liu,Hai Long,Jiangtao Luo,Ning Yang,Jianmin Zheng,Qin Wang,Manyu Yang,Fan Yang,Jun Li,Shizhao Li,Qingyan Deng,Hongshen Wan,Guangbing Deng,Wuyun Yang

doi:10.3390/agronomy11112237

Abstract

Leaf pubescence is an important trait closely associated with plant adaptability to specialized habitats. Baimaomai (BMM) is a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) landrace originating from the high-altitude, drought-prone environment of Sichuan Province, China with long, dense leaf pubescence. A population of 234 recombinant inbred lines (F10) developed from the cross between Chuanmai104 (CM104), which lacks leaf pubescence, and BMM with pubescent leaves, was used to conduct a phenotypic evaluation of leaf pubescence. Three quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected on chromosome arms 7BS, 3DL and 3AL using a high-density wheat 50K single-nucleotide polymorphism array in four environments. The QTLs were designated QLp.saas-7BS, QLp.saas-3DL and QLp.saas-3AL. QLp.saas-3AL, derived from BMM, and QLp.saas-3DL, derived from CM104, were new minor-effect loci. QLp.saas-7BS, derived from BMM, was a novel major-effect locus detected in all environments and was localized in a 0.48 Mb interval on chromosome arm 7BS based on the wheat ‘Chinese Spring’ reference genome. QLp.saas-7BS explained up to 40.77% of the total phenotypic variance. KASP markers tightly linked to QLp.saas-7BS were developed and verified. The present results provide valuable information for further fine mapping, cloning, and marker-assisted selection with QLp.saas-7BS in wheat.

Highlights

Leaf pubescence is an adaptive morphological trait and a common characteristic of angiosperms [1,2]
Effective KASP markers tightly linked to QLp.saas-7BS were developed and verified, which would be helpful to conduct marker-assisted selection for this morphological trait in the future
Leaf pubescence is an important phenotypic trait closely associated with plant adaptability

Summary

Introduction

Leaf pubescence is an adaptive morphological trait and a common characteristic of angiosperms [1,2]. Leaf pubescence plays an important role in plant growth, development, and environmental adaptation. Pubescence refers to the presence of trichomes, which are ubiquitous in plants and comprise uni- or multi-cellular outgrowths from the epidermis [3,4]. With regard to resistance to biotic stresses, leaf pubescence may improve plant resistance to insects by affecting the preferences and behavior of diverse insects [7], such as cereal leaf beetle [8,9], yellow sugarcane aphid and greenbug [10], and bird cherry-oat aphid in wheat [11]. The degree and density of leaf pubescence is associated with variation in the degree of resistance or susceptibility to various insect pests [12,13,14].

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