Rapid identification and deployment of major genes for flowering time and awn traits in common wheat

Jizhong Wu; Linyi Qiao; Ying Liu; Bisheng Fu; Ragupathi Nagarajan; Yahya Rauf; Haiyan Jia; Liuling Yan

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.992811

Rapid identification and deployment of major genes for flowering time and awn traits in common wheat

Front Plant Sci. 2022 Aug 26:13:992811. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.992811. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Jizhong Wu^{1

2}, Linyi Qiao^{2

3}, Ying Liu¹, Bisheng Fu¹, Ragupathi Nagarajan², Yahya Rauf², Haiyan Jia^{2

4}, Liuling Yan²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Germplasm Resources and Biotechnology, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
² Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, United States.
³ College of Agronomy, Shanxi Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Molecular Improvement, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
⁴ The Applied Plant Genomics Laboratory, National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.

Abstract

Molecular markers are developed to accelerate deployment of genes for desirable traits segregated in a bi-parental population of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) or doubled haplotype (DH) lines for mapping. However, it would be the most effective if such markers for multiple traits could be identified in an F₂ population. In this study, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) chips were used to identify major genes for heading date and awn in an F₂ population without developing RILs or DH lines. The population was generated from a cross between a locally adapted spring wheat cultivar "Ningmaizi119" and a winter wheat cultivar "Tabasco" with a diverse genetic background. It was found that the dominant Vrn-D1 allele could make Ningmaizi119 flowered a few months earlier than Tabasco in the greenhouse and without vernalization. The observed effects of the allele were validated in F₃ populations. It was also found that the dominant Ali-A1 allele for awnless trait in Tabasco or the recessive ali-A1 allele for awn trait in Ningmaizi119 was segregated in the F₂ population. The allelic variation in the ALI-A1 gene relies not only on the DNA polymorphisms in the promoter but also on gene copy number, with one copy ali-A1 in Ningmaizi119 but two copies Ali-A1 in Tabasco based on RT-PCR results. According to wheat genome sequences, cultivar "Mattis" has two copies Ali-A1 and cultivar "Spelta" has four copies Ali-A in a chromosome that was uncharacterized (ChrUN), in addition to one copy on chromosome 5A. This study rapidly characterized the effects of the dominant Vrn-D1 allele and identified the haplotype of Ali-A1 in gene copy number in the F₂ segregation population of common wheat will accelerate their deployment in cycling lines in breeding.

Keywords: Ali-A1; Vrn-D1; awn; common wheat; flowering genes.