Hybridisation‐based target enrichment of phenology genes to dissect the genetic basis of yield and adaptation in barley

• Published in: Plant biotechnology journal Vol. 17; no. 5; pp. 932 - 944
• Main Authors: Hill, Camilla Beate, Angessa, Tefera Tolera, McFawn, Lee‐Anne, Wong, Debbie, Tibbits, Josquin, Zhang, Xiao‐Qi, Forrest, Kerrie, Moody, David, Telfer, Paul, Westcott, Sharon, Diepeveen, Dean, Xu, Yanhao, Tan, Cong, Hayden, Matthew, Li, Chengdao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.05.2019; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Adaptation; Agricultural production; Animal husbandry; Arabidopsis thaliana; association mapping; Barley; Breeding; Breweries; Brewing; Crop Production; Crop yield; Cultivars; Domestication; Flowering; flowering time; Flowers - genetics; Flowers - growth & development; Genes; Genes, Plant - genetics; Genes, Plant - physiology; Genetic aspects; Genetic diversity; Genetic improvement; Genetic polymorphisms; Genetic research; Genetic variance; Genetic Variation - genetics; Genome-Wide Association Study; Genomes; Genomics; Germplasm; Grain; grain yield; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Hordeum - genetics; Hordeum - growth & development; Hordeum vulgare; Hybridization; Livestock; Livestock feed; Livestock feeds; next‐generation sequencing; Phenology; Phenotypic variations; Plant Breeding; Polymorphism; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide - genetics; Population; Quantitative Trait Loci - genetics; Quantitative Trait, Heritable; Software; target capture; Australia; target capture; Hordeum vulgare; grain yield; association mapping; flowering time; next-generation sequencing
• ISSN: 1467-7644; 1467-7652
• DOI: 10.1111/pbi.13029

Summary Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is a major cereal grain widely used for livestock feed, brewing malts and human food. Grain yield is the most important breeding target for genetic improvement and largely depends on optimal timing of flowering. Little is known about the allelic diversity of genes that underlie flowering time in domesticated barley, the genetic changes that have occurred during breeding, and their impact on yield and adaptation. Here, we report a comprehensive genomic assessment of a worldwide collection of 895 barley accessions based on the targeted resequencing of phenology genes. A versatile target‐capture method was used to detect genome‐wide polymorphisms in a panel of 174 flowering time‐related genes, chosen based on prior knowledge from barley, rice and Arabidopsis thaliana. Association studies identified novel polymorphisms that accounted for observed phenotypic variation in phenology and grain yield, and explained improvements in adaptation as a result of historical breeding of Australian barley cultivars. We found that 50% of genetic variants associated with grain yield, and 67% of the plant height variation was also associated with phenology. The precise identification of favourable alleles provides a genomic basis to improve barley yield traits and to enhance adaptation for specific production areas.