Genetic Incorporation of the Favorable Alleles for Three Genes Associated With Spikelet Development in Wheat

Xiaojun Zhang; Linyi Qiao; Xin Li; Zujun Yang; Cheng Liu; Huijuan Guo; Jun Zheng; Shuwei Zhang; Lifang Chang; Fang Chen; Juqing Jia; Liuling Yan; Zhijian Chang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.892642

Genetic Incorporation of the Favorable Alleles for Three Genes Associated With Spikelet Development in Wheat

Front Plant Sci. 2022 May 3:13:892642. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.892642. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xiaojun Zhang¹, Linyi Qiao^{1

2}, Xin Li¹, Zujun Yang³, Cheng Liu⁴, Huijuan Guo¹, Jun Zheng⁵, Shuwei Zhang¹, Lifang Chang¹, Fang Chen¹, Juqing Jia¹, Liuling Yan², Zhijian Chang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Sustainable Dryland Agriculture (in Preparation), College of Agronomy, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taiyuan, China.
² Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, United States.
³ School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
⁴ Crop Research Institute, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan, China.
⁵ Institute of Wheat Research, Shanxi Agricultural University, Linfen, China.

Abstract

The number of spikelets per spike is an important trait that directly affects grain yield in wheat. Three quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with spikelet nodes per spike (SNS) were mapped in a population of recombinant inbred lines generated from a cross between two advanced breeding lines of winter wheat based on the phenotypic variation evaluated over six locations/years. Two of the three QTLs are QSns.sxau-2A at the WHEATFRIZZY PANICLE (WFZP) loci and QSns.sxau-7A at the WHEAT ORTHOLOG OF APO1 (WAPO1) loci. The WFZP-A1b allele with a 14-bp deletion at QSns.sxau-2A was associated with increased spikelets per spike. WAPO-A1e, as a novel allele at WAPO1, were regulated at the transcript level that was associated with the SNS trait. The third SNS QTL, QSns.sxau-7D on chromosome 7D, was not associated with homoeologous WAPO-D1 or any other genes known to regulate SNS. The favorable alleles for each of WZFP-A1, WAPO-A1, and QSns.sxau-7D are identified and incorporated to increase up to 3.4 spikelets per spike in the RIL lines. Molecular markers for the alleles were developed. This study has advanced our understanding of the genetic basis of natural variation in spikelet development in wheat.

Keywords: WAPO gene; WFZP gene; spike development; spikelet node number per spike; wheat.