Effects of Favorable Alleles for Water-Soluble Carbohydrates at Grain Filling on Grain Weight under Drought and Heat Stresses in Wheat

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 7; p. e102917
• Main Authors: Zhang, Bin, Li, Weiyu, Chang, Xiaoping, Li, Runzhi, Jing, Ruilian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 18.07.2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Alleles; Analysis; Assimilation; Barley; Biology and Life Sciences; Breeding; Carbohydrates; Carbohydrates - genetics; Carbon; Cell division; Correlation; Correlation analysis; Crop science; Drought; Droughts; Edible Grain - genetics; Environmental effects; Flowering; Flowers - genetics; Genomes; Genomics; Grain; Heat stress; Heat tolerance; Hot Temperature; Leaves; Metabolism; Organs; Oryza; Plant breeding; Plant growth; Plant Leaves - genetics; Population; Solubility; Stresses; Triticum - genetics; Triticum aestivum; Water; Water chemistry; Water conservation; Weight reduction; Wheat; Winter wheat; United Kingdom > UK; Beijing China; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102917

Drought, heat and other abiotic stresses during grain filling can result in reductions in grain weight. Conserved water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) at early grain filling play an important role in partial compensation of reduced carbon supply. A diverse population of 262 historical winter wheat accessions was used in the present study. There were significant correlations between 1000-grain weight (TGW) and four types of WSC, viz. (1) total WSC at the mid-grain filling stage (14 days after flowering) produced by leaves and non-leaf organs; (2) WSC contributed by current leaf assimilation during the mid-grain filling; (3) WSC in non-leaf organs at the mid-grain filling, excluding the current leaf assimilation; and (4) WSC used for respiration and remobilization during the mid-grain filling. Association and favorable allele analyses of 209 genome-wide SSR markers and the four types of WSC were conducted using a mixed linear model. Seven novel favorable WSC alleles exhibited positive individual contributions to TGW, which were verified under 16 environments. Dosage effects of pyramided favorable WSC alleles and significantly linear correlations between the number of favorable WSC alleles and TGW were observed. Our results suggested that pyramiding more favorable WSC alleles was effective for improving both WSC and grain weight in future wheat breeding programs.