Molecular mapping and validation of quantitative trait loci for spike-related traits and plant height in wheat

Abstract

Spike-related traits and plant height are important target traits in wheat breeding. In the present study, a population of 198 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from the cross between a CIMMYT wheat line C615 and Yangmai 13 (YM13) was constructed, followed by genotyping with Wheat 90K SNP array and phenotyping of spike-related traits and plant height in three environments to excavate QTLs (quantitative trait loci) for these traits. Using composite interval mapping method, we identified one QTL for total spikelet number per spike (TSS), two QTLs for spike length (SL), two QTLs for spikelet compactness (SC), and three QTLs for plant height (PH). QSN.yaas-3B and QPH.yaas-3B overlapped on the chromosome 3B. QSL.yaas-5A, QSC.yaas-5A and QPH.yaas-5A overlapped on the chromosome 5A. QSL.yaas-6A and QSC.yaas-6A overlapped on the chromosome 6A. QSN.yaas-3B/QPH.yaas-3B and QSL.yaas-6A/QSC.yaas-6A had not been reported yet, and were likely to be novel loci. The SNP marker closely linked to QSL.yaas-5A/QSC.yaas-5A/QPH.yaas-5A was then converted into one Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) marker (QC615-5A-KASP), and validated in a panel of 105 wheat lines. The results would be useful for improvement of yield related traits in wheat breeding.