Genetic Characterization of a Wheat Association Mapping Panel Relevant to Brazilian Breeding Using a High-Density Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Array

• Published in: G3 : genes - genomes - genetics Vol. 10; no. 7; pp. 2229 - 2239
• Main Authors: Mellers, Greg, Aguilera, Jorge González, Bird, Nick, Variani Bonato, Ana Lidia, Bonow, Sandro, Caierão, Eduardo, Consoli, Luciano, Santana, Flávio Martins, Simmonds, James, Steed, Andrew, Montan Torres, Gisele Abigail, Uauy, Cristobal, Wright, Tally I C, Scheeren, Pedro Luiz, Nicholson, Paul, Cockram, James
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Genetics Society of America 01.07.2020; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: fusarium head blight (fhb); genetic diversity; genome-wide association scan (gwas); Investigations; polyploid crop breeding; quantitative trait locus (qtl); single nucleotide polymorphism (snp) genotyping; genetic diversity; Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping; quantitative trait locus (QTL); Fusarium head blight (FHB); genome-wide association scan (GWAS); polyploid crop breeding
• ISSN: 2160-1836; 2160-1836
• DOI: 10.1534/g3.120.401234

Bread wheat ( L.) is one of the world's most important crops. Maintaining wheat yield gains across all of its major production areas is a key target toward underpinning global food security. Brazil is a major wheat producer in South America, generating grain yields of around 6.8 million tons per year. Here, we establish and genotype a wheat association mapping resource relevant to contemporary Brazilian wheat breeding programs. The panel of 558 wheat accessions was genotyped using an Illumina iSelect 90,000 single nucleotide polymorphism array. Following quality control, the final data matrix consisted of 470 accessions and 22,475 polymorphic genetic markers (minor allele frequency ≥5%, missing data <5%). Principal component analysis identified distinct differences between materials bred predominantly for the northern Cerrado region, compared to those bred for southern Brazilian agricultural areas. We augmented the genotypic data with 26 functional Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR (KASP) markers to identify the allelic combinations at genes with previously known effects on agronomically important traits in the panel. This highlighted breeding targets for immediate consideration - notably, increased head blight resistance via the locus. To demonstrate the panel's likely future utility, genome-wide association scans for several phenotypic traits were undertaken. Significant (Bonferroni corrected < 0.05) marker-trait associations were detected for kernel damage (a proxy for type 2 resistance), identifying previously known quantitative trait loci in the panel. This association mapping panel represents an important resource for Brazilian wheat breeding, allowing future genetic studies to analyze multiple agronomic traits within a single genetically diverse population.