Phenotypic effects of the U-genome variation in nascent synthetic hexaploids derived from interspecific crosses between durum wheat and its diploid relative Aegilops umbellulata.

Tatsuya M Ikeda,Kentaro Yoshida,Ajay Kumar,Moeko Okada,Asami Michikawa,Shigeo Takumi,Kiyotaka Nagaki

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0231129

Abstract

Aegilops umbellulata is a wild diploid wheat species with the UU genome that is an important genetic resource for wheat breeding. To exploit new synthetic allohexaploid lines available as bridges for wheat breeding, a total of 26 synthetic hexaploid lines were generated through crossing between the durum wheat cultivar Langdon and 26 accessions of Ae. umbellulata. In nascent synthetic hexaploids with the AABBUU genome, the presence of the set of seven U-genome chromosomes was confirmed with U-genome chromosome-specific markers developed based on RNA-seq-derived data from Ae. umbellulata. The AABBUU synthetic hexaploids showed large variations in flowering- and morphology-related traits, and these large variations transmitted well from the parental Ae. umbellulata accessions. However, the variation ranges in most traits examined were reduced under the AABBUU hexaploid background compared with under the diploid parents. The AABBUU and AABBDD synthetic hexaploids were clearly discriminated by several morphological traits, and an increase of plant height and in the number of spikes and a decrease of spike length were commonly observed in the AABBUU synthetics. Thus, interspecific differences in several morphological traits between Ae. umbellulata and A. tauschii largely affected the basic plant architecture of the synthetic hexaploids. In conclusion, the AABBUU synthetic hexaploid lines produced in the present study are useful resources for the introgression of desirable genes from Ae. umbellulata to common wheat.

Highlights

To mitigate the effects of climate change and increasing human population, which are increasingly important problems facing humanity, the use of natural variations in wild species is required for crop breeding [1,2,3]
The AABBUU and AABBDD synthetic hexaploids were clearly discriminated by several morphological traits, and an increase of plant height and in the number of spikes and a decrease of spike length were commonly observed in the AABBUU synthetics
Chromosome elimination sometimes results in severe phenotypic abnormalities in synthetic allopolyploids [42]

Summary

Introduction

To mitigate the effects of climate change and increasing human population, which are increasingly important problems facing humanity, the use of natural variations in wild species is required for crop breeding [1,2,3]. Files containing raw sequence data for the RNA sequencing are available in the sequence read archive of DDBJ (accession numbers DRA007097 and DRA006404)

Methods

Results

Conclusion