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ARS Home » Plains Area » Manhattan, Kansas » Center for Grain and Animal Health Research » Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #345378
Title: Genome-wide association analysis of powdery mildew resistance in U.S. winter wheat

Author
item LIU, NA - Guangzhou University
item LIN, MENG - Guangzhou University
item Xu, Xiangyang
item Bai, Guihua

Submitted to: Scientific Reports
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/21/2017
Publication Date: 9/18/2017
Citation: Liu, N., Lin, M., Xu, X., Bai, G. 2017. Genome-wide association analysis of powdery mildew resistance in U.S. winter wheat. Scientific Reports. 7:11743. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11230-z.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11230-z

Interpretive Summary: Wheat powdery mildew (PM) is a major fungal disease of wheat worldwide. We conducted a genome-wide association study on a set of 185 U.S. winter wheat accessions to determine the genomic regions responsible for PM resistance and identified markers that were linked to twelve resistance genes. Although most of the genes identified in this study were reported previously, some are likely new genes for PM resistance in U.S. winter wheat. We also identified some germplasm lines with immunity to PM that can be used as good sources of resistance in breeding. The markers closely linked to the genes identified in this study can be used for improvement of wheat PM resistance after further validation.

Technical Abstract: Wheat powdery mildew (PM), caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici, is a major fungal disease of wheat worldwide. It can cause considerable yield losses when epidemics occur. Use of genetic resistance is the most effective approach to control the disease. To determine the genomic regions responsible for PM resistance in a set of U.S. winter wheat and identify DNA markers in these regions, we conducted a genome-wide association study on a set of 185 U.S. winter wheat accessions using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers from 90K wheat SNP arrays. We identified significant SNP markers linked to nine quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers linked to three QTLs for PM resistance. Most of the QTLs in the US winter wheat population have been reported previously, but some such as these on chromosomes 1A, 6A and 1B have not been reported previously, and are likely new QTLs for PM resistance in U.S. winter wheat. The germplasm lines with immunity to PM are good sources of resistance for PM resistance breeding and the markers closely linked to the QTLs can be used in marker-assisted selection to improve wheat PM resistance after further validation.