Abstract
BackgroundPre-harvest sprouting (PHS) is a major problem for wheat production due to its direct detrimental effects on wheat yield, end-use quality and seed viability. Annually, PHS is estimated to cause > 1.0 billion USD in losses worldwide. Therefore, identifying PHS resistance quantitative trait loci (QTLs) is crucial to aid molecular breeding efforts to minimize losses. Thus, a doubled haploid mapping population derived from a cross between white-grained PHS susceptible cv AAC Innova and red-grained resistant cv AAC Tenacious was screened for PHS resistance in four environments and utilized for QTL mapping.ResultsTwenty-one PHS resistance QTLs, including seven major loci (on chromosomes 1A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 3D, and 7D), each explaining ≥10% phenotypic variation for PHS resistance, were identified. In every environment, at least one major QTL was identified. PHS resistance at most of these loci was contributed by AAC Tenacious except at two loci on chromosomes 3D and 7D where it was contributed by AAC Innova. Thirteen of the total twenty-one identified loci were located to chromosome positions where at least one QTL have been previously identified in other wheat genotype(s). The remaining eight QTLs are new which have been identified for the first time in this study. Pedigree analysis traced several known donors of PHS resistance in AAC Tenacious genealogy. Comparative analyses of the genetic intervals of identified QTLs with that of already identified and cloned PHS resistance gene intervals using IWGSC RefSeq v2.0 identified MFT-A1b (in QTL interval QPhs.lrdc-3A.1) and AGO802A (in QTL interval QPhs.lrdc-3A.2) on chromosome 3A, MFT-3B-1 (in QTL interval QPhs.lrdc-3B.1) on chromosome 3B, and AGO802D, HUB1, TaVp1-D1 (in QTL interval QPhs.lrdc-3D.1) and TaMyb10-D1 (in QTL interval QPhs.lrdc-3D.2) on chromosome 3D. These candidate genes are involved in embryo- and seed coat-imposed dormancy as well as in epigenetic control of dormancy.ConclusionsOur results revealed the complex PHS resistance genetics of AAC Tenacious and AAC Innova. AAC Tenacious possesses a great reservoir of important PHS resistance QTLs/genes supposed to be derived from different resources. The tracing of pedigrees of AAC Tenacious and other sources complements the validation of QTL analysis results. Finally, comparing our results with previous PHS studies in wheat, we have confirmed the position of several major PHS resistance QTLs and candidate genes.
Highlights
Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) is a major problem for wheat production due to its direct detrimental effects on wheat yield, end-use quality and seed viability
PHS resistance evaluation Strong phenotypic variability for sprouting was observed between the parents (Fig. 1), check cultivars (Additional file 1: Fig. S1) and doubled haploid (DH) lines across environments, except Edmonton 2019 (Figs. 1 and 2, and Additional file 2: Table S1) but the differences were significant in all the environments
Mean PHS data showed that Prefix to cultivar names Agriculture Canada (AAC) Tenacious and AAC Penhold were the most resistant cultivars while AAC Brandon, AAC Awesome and Prefix to cultivar names Agriculture Canada (AC) Andrew were the
Summary
Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) is a major problem for wheat production due to its direct detrimental effects on wheat yield, end-use quality and seed viability. PHS is estimated to cause > 1.0 billion USD in losses worldwide. Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) or germination of mature grains on wheat heads before harvest, often caused by cool, wet conditions during the harvest season, may Dhariwal et al BMC Genomics (2021) 22:900 result in significant losses in wheat yield, end-use quality (test weight, milling and baking properties), seed viability and seedling vigor [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Losses in functional baking quality due to PHS may include low flour absorption, reduced dough strength and loaf volume, and poor crumb structure [17, 18]. PHS can affect baking properties by making the dough porous, sticky and off-color [1]
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