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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Cereal Crops Improvement Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #418967
Research Project: Improvement of Disease and Pest Resistance in Barley, Durum, Oat, and Wheat Using Genetics and Genomics

Location: Cereal Crops Improvement Research

Title: Genome-wide dissection and haplotype analysis identified superior haplotypes for improved salt stress tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Author
item GUDI, SANTOSH - North Dakota State University
item GILL, HARSIMARDDEP - South Dakota State University
item COLLINS, SERENA - University Of California, Riverside
item SINGH, JATINDER - North Dakota State University
item Sandhu, Devinder
item SEHGAL, SUNISH - South Dakota State University
item UPINDER, GILL - North Dakota State University
item Gupta, Rajeev

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/20/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Salt stress is the major abiotic stress affecting growth, development, and yielding ability of wheat cultivars throughout the world. Understanding the genetic basis of salt stress tolerance is key to develop resilient wheat varieties with improved yield under saline soils. In present study, we evaluated a subset of exome sequenced panel comprising 228 hexaploid spring wheat accessions under control (with electrical conductivity of irrigation water (ECiw = 1.46 dS m-1)) and salt stress (ECiw = 14 dS m-1) in greenhouse lysimeters at the US Salinity Laboratory, Riverside, CA. Salt stress significantly reduced shoot height (17.45%), root length (15.51%), tiller number (43.83%), shoot weight (44.61%), and root weight (35.82%) compared to control. However, there was a significant increase in root length by shoot height ratio (3.75%) and root weight by shoot weight ratio (28.02%) under salt stress. Based on seedling traits and their stress tolerance indexes, six highly salt-tolerant and six highly salt-sensitive lines were identified. Multi-locus genome-wide association studies (GWAS) using 297,104 SNPs and linkage disequilibrium (LD) based grouping identified 25 high-confidence QTLs. Candidate gene mining from flanking genomic region spanning QTLs and expression analysis identified five putative genes associated with enhanced salt stress tolerance. Furthermore, the gene-based haplotype analysis identified superior haplotypes responsible for improved salt stress tolerance. Putative genes and the superior haplotypes identified in this study can be employed in future breeding program to develop salt-resilient wheat varieties suitable for saline soil or coastal areas.