Identification of major QTLs for yield-related traits with improved genetic map in wheat

• Published in: Frontiers in plant science Vol. 14; p. 1138696
• Main Authors: Ma, Feifei, Xu, Yunfeng, Wang, Ruifang, Tong, Yiping, Zhang, Aimin, Liu, Dongcheng, An, Diaoguo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 17.03.2023
• Subjects: high-density linkage map; Plant Science; QTL mapping; the wheat 660K SNP array; wheat; yield-related traits; high-density linkage map; wheat; yield-related traits; QTL mapping; the wheat 660K SNP array
• ISSN: 1664-462X; 1664-462X
• DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1138696

Identification of stable major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for yield-related traits is important for yield potential improvement in wheat breeding. In the present study, we genotyped a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population using the Wheat 660K SNP array and constructed a high-density genetic map. The genetic map showed high collinearity with the wheat genome assembly. Fourteen yield-related traits were evaluated in six environments for QTL analysis. A total of 12 environmentally stable QTLs were identified in at least three environments, explaining up to 34.7% of the phenotypic variation. Of these, for thousand kernel weight (TKW), ( ) for plant height (PH), spike length (SL) and spikelet compactness (SCN), for PH, and for total spikelet number per spike (TSS) were detected in at least five environments. A set of Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) markers were converted based on the above QTLs and used to genotype a diversity panel comprising of 190 wheat accessions across four growing seasons. ( ), and were successfully validated. Compared with previous studies, and should be novel QTLs. These results provided a solid foundation for further positional cloning and marker-assisted selection of the targeted QTLs in wheat breeding programs.