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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 #382369
Research Project: Genetic Improvement of Biotic and Abiotic Stress Tolerance and Nutritional Quality in Hard Winter Wheat

Location: Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research

Title: Integration of meta-QTL discovery with omics: Towards a molecular breeding platform for improving wheat resistance to Fusarium head blight

Author
item ZHANG, TONG - Yangzhou University
item HUA, CHEN - Yangzhou University
item LI, LEI - Yangzhou University
item SUN, ZHENGXI - Yangzhou University
item YUAM, MINMIN - Yangzhou University
item Bai, Guihua
item HUMPHREYS, GAVIN - Agriculture And Agri-Food Canada
item LI, TAO - Yangzhou University

Submitted to: The Crop Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/3/2020
Publication Date: 11/3/2020
Citation: Zhang, T., Hua, C., Li, L., Sun, Z., Yuam, M., Bai, G., Humphreys, G., Li, T. 2020. Integration of meta-QTL discovery with omics: Towards a molecular breeding platform for improving wheat resistance to Fusarium head blight. The Crop Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cj.2020.10.006.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cj.2020.10.006

Interpretive Summary: Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a devastating disease of wheat globally. Among more than 600 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) reported to confer FHB resistance, most show minor and inconsistent effects in different genetic backgrounds and environments, and thus they are not easy to use in breeding. This study combined meta-analysis, physical mapping, and candidate gene approaches to systematically characterize these QTLs and identified 77 high-confidence meta-QTLs (MQTLs). Tightly linked DNA markers were identified for many of the MQTLs, which breeders can use for improving wheat resistance to FHB.

Technical Abstract: Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a global wheat disease which significantly devastates wheat production. Wheat resistance to FHB spread within a spike (Type II) and to mycotoxin accumulation in infected grain (Type III) are the two most important types of resistance. To date, hundreds of the QTL have been reported, but only a few QTL underlying the two traits can be used in breeding because most of them show minor and / or inconsistent effects in different genetic backgrounds. Identification of robust and stable QTL with major genetic effects is of great importance to both genetic research and breeding. In this study, we developed a new strategy to identify robust and reliable meta-QTL (MQTL) that can be directly used for improvement of wheat FHB resistance by integration of MQTL analysis with MQTL physical mapping and identification of single-copy markers and candidate genes. We first summarized data on 625 original QTL from 113 papers published to date, consolidated them into 118 genetic map-based MQTL (gMQTL) using meta-analysis, then mapped these gMQTL on the Chinese Spring reference sequence map to generate the reference sequence-based MQTL (sMQTL), and finally refined the sMQTL to 77 highly confident MQTL (hcMQTL). After that, locus-specific SNP and SSR markers and 17 genes responsive to FHB were identified in the hcMQTL intervals through a combined analysis of transcriptomic and proteomic data. This work paves the way towards a comprehensive molecular breeding pipeline for improving wheat resistance to FHB.