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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 #423680
Research Project: Improvement of Disease and Pest Resistance in Barley, Durum, Oat, and Wheat Using Genetics and Genomics

Location: Cereal Crops Improvement Research

Title: Haplotype analysis identified key genes associated with improved salt stress tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Author
item GUDI, SANTOSH - North Dakota State University
item GILL, HARSIMARDEEP - 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: 2/19/2025
Publication Date: 3/18/2025
Citation: Gudi, S., Gill, H., Collins, S., Singh, J., Sandhu, D., Sehgal, S., Upinder, G., Gupta, R. 2025. Haplotype analysis identified key genes associated with improved salt stress tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Meeting Abstract. Poster No.59974.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Soil salinity imposes osmotic stress and ion toxicity in major crop plants, leading to cell damage and growth arrest. Understanding the genetic and molecular basis of salt stress tolerance is crucial for developing salt resilient wheat cultivars. In this study, we evaluated 228 globally diverse hexaploid spring wheat accessions using normal irrigation water (with electrical conductivity of ECiw = 1.46 dS m-1)) and salt water (with electrical conductivity of 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 indices, six highly salt-tolerant and six highly salt-sensitive lines were identified. Moreover, 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 regions spanning QTLs and expression analysis identified eight putative genes associated with enhanced salt stress tolerance. Haplotype analysis identified superior haplotypes for peptide transporters and sodium symporters genes, which are responsible for improving 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.