Location: Cereal Crops Improvement Research
Project Number: 3060-21000-046-036-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2024
End Date: Aug 31, 2026
Objective:
1. Screen diverse collections of wheat and wheat relatives for resistance to wheat stem sawfly to identify sources of genetic resistance; 2) Identify genetic loci associated with wheat stem sawfly resistance using DNA markers and association mapping; 3) Develop diagnostic KASP markers for identified resistance loci for deployment in breeding programs.
Approach:
Objective 1: collections of wheat lines will be screened for reaction to wheat stem sawfly (WSS) in field environments. The collections will include parental lines of various mapping populations, a collection of synthetic hexaploid lines, and a collection of cultivated emmer wheat lines. The lines will first be evaluated under field conditions in three to four locations per year, with three replicates per location. If a plant appears resistant under field conditions, the resistant line will be evaluated under greenhouse conditions to determine if the line is truly resistant or an escape due to WSS infestation pressure and the mode of resistance. Objective 2: the student will run a genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis on the populations using the field data to identify genetic loci and linked markers associated with WSS resistance. Multiple models will be run using the free software GAPIT for this analysis. Objective 3: the student will develop diagnostic KASP markers for each significant marker trait association region and test of regional hard red spring wheat and durum panels for use in breeding programs and introgression of resistance loci into adapted wheat cultivars.
