Genome-wide association study for grain zinc concentration in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Jianhui Ma; Miaomiao Ye; Qianqian Liu; Meng Yuan; Daijing Zhang; Chunxi Li; Qingdong Zeng; Jianhui Wu; Dejun Han; Lina Jiang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1169858

Genome-wide association study for grain zinc concentration in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Apr 3:14:1169858. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1169858. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jianhui Ma¹, Miaomiao Ye¹, Qianqian Liu¹, Meng Yuan^{1

2}, Daijing Zhang¹, Chunxi Li¹, Qingdong Zeng², Jianhui Wu², Dejun Han², Lina Jiang¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Life Science, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology in Arid Areas, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shanxi, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Zinc (Zn) deficiency causes serious diseases in people who rely on cereals as their main food source. However, the grain zinc concentration (GZnC) in wheat is low. Biofortification is a sustainable strategy for reducing human Zn deficiency.

Methods: In this study, we constructed a population of 382 wheat accessions and determined their GZnC in three field environments. Phenotype data was used for a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using a 660K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, and haplotype analysis identified an important candidate gene for GZnC.

Results: We found that GZnC of the wheat accessions showed an increasing trend with their released years, indicating that the dominant allele of GZnC was not lost during the breeding process. Nine stable quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for GZnC were identified on chromosomes 3A, 4A, 5B, 6D, and 7A. And an important candidate gene for GZnC, namely, TraesCS6D01G234600, and GZnC between the haplotypes of this gene showed, significant difference (P ≤ 0.05) in three environments.

Discussion: A novel QTL was first identified on chromosome 6D, this finding enriches our understanding of the genetic basis of GZnC in wheat. This study provides new insights into valuable markers and candidate genes for wheat biofortification to improve GZnC.

Keywords: Triticum aestivum L.; candidate gene; genome-wide association study; grain Zn concentration; quantitative trait loci.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Open Project Program (CSBAA2020001) of State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, NWAFU, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China; the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD0300703-2 and 2017YFD0301101); Technological development for wheat production (H2022028).