Abstract
Final grain production and quality in durum wheat are affected by biotic and abiotic stresses. The association mapping (AM) approach is useful for dissecting the genetic control of quantitative traits, with the aim of increasing final wheat production under stress conditions. In this study, we used AM analyses to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying agronomic and quality traits in a collection of 294 elite durum wheat lines from CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), grown under different water regimes over four growing seasons. Thirty-seven significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) were detected for sedimentation volume (SV) and thousand kernel weight (TKW), located on chromosomes 1B and 2A, respectively. The QTL loci found were then confirmed with several AM analyses, which revealed 12 sedimentation index (SDS) MTAs and two additional loci for SV (4A) and yellow rust (1B). A candidate gene analysis of the identified genomic regions detected a cluster of 25 genes encoding blue copper proteins in chromosome 1B, with homoeologs in the two durum wheat subgenomes, and an ubiquinone biosynthesis O-methyltransferase gene. On chromosome 2A, several genes related to photosynthetic processes and metabolic pathways were found in proximity to the markers associated with TKW. These results are of potential use for subsequent application in marker-assisted durum wheat-breeding programs.
Highlights
Wheat is one of the most widely grown crops worldwide (FAO, 2015), and is essential for the human diet [1]
The mean phenotypic values across years were calculated for each block and panel to evaluate the influence of water conditions on the assessed traits (Table 3)
Detailed molecular and phenotypic characterization are valuable tools in the dissection of complex traits [79], and especially those that are influenced by water availability [14]
Summary
Wheat is one of the most widely grown crops worldwide (FAO, 2015), and is essential for the human diet [1]. Its importance and worldwide dominance are due, in part, to its agronomic adaptability. Durum wheat (Triticum durum) is a tetraploid wheat species (AABB genomes) mainly grown in the Mediterranean basin, in the Northern Plains (between the USA and Canada), in the arid areas of South Western USA and in Northern Mexico [2]. Durum wheat is well-adapted to a broad range of climatic conditions (including dry environments) and marginal soils, and has low water requirements [3,4]. As temperature and water availability, together with biotic stresses, can strongly affect durum wheat development and production [3,4,5,6].
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