Genetic analysis and mapping of dwarf gene without yield penalty in a γ-ray-induced wheat mutant

Qingguo Wang; Hongchun Xiong; Huijun Guo; Linshu Zhao; Yongdun Xie; Jiayu Gu; Shirong Zhao; Yuping Ding; Luxiang Liu

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1133024

Genetic analysis and mapping of dwarf gene without yield penalty in a γ-ray-induced wheat mutant

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Mar 22:14:1133024. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1133024. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Qingguo Wang^{1

2}, Hongchun Xiong², Huijun Guo², Linshu Zhao², Yongdun Xie², Jiayu Gu², Shirong Zhao², Yuping Ding², Luxiang Liu²

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China.
² National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, National Center of Space Mutagenesis for Crop Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Plant height is one of the most important agronomic traits that affects yield in wheat, owing to that the utilization of dwarf or semi-dwarf genes is closely associated with lodging resistance. In this study, we identified a semi-dwarf mutant, jg0030, induced by γ-ray mutagenesis of the wheat variety 'Jing411' (wild type). Compared with the 'Jing411', plant height of the jg0030 mutant was reduced by 7%-18% in two years' field experiments, and the plants showed no changes in yield-related traits. Treatment with gibberellic acid (GA) suggested that jg0030 is a GA-sensitive mutant. Analysis of the frequency distribution of plant height in 297 F₃ families derived from crossing jg0030 with the 'Jing411' indicated that the semi-dwarf phenotype is controlled by a major gene. Using the wheat 660K SNP array-based Bulked Segregant Analysis (BSA) and the exome capture sequencing-BSA assay, the dwarf gene was mapped on the long arm of chromosome 2B. We developed a set of KASP markers and mapped the dwarf gene to a region between marker PH1 and PH7. This region encompassed a genetic distance of 55.21 cM, corresponding to a physical distance of 98.3 Mb. The results of our study provide a new genetic resource and linked markers for wheat improvement in molecular breeding programs.

Keywords: QTL; dwarf mutant; plant height; wheat; γ-ray.

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (Grant No. 2022YFD1200700), the Crop Varietal Improvement and Insect Pests Control by Nuclear Radiation, the China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA (Grant No. CARS-03), the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program (Grant No. CAAS-ZDRW202109), and the Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund (No. Y2022GH06).