Grain protein content (GPC) is one of the most important agronomic traits for durum wheat, responsible both for its nutritional value and technological properties. In the last decades breeders have been focused on improving GPC, process hindered by the complex genetic control of the traits, the strong influence of the environment and by the negative correlation between GPC and grain yield. In order to achieve sufficient yield and good grain quality for the increasing population, massive amounts of mineral fertilizer, especially nitrogenous ones, have been extensively applied. Although N fertilizers are necessary to global crop production, its losses through different biological processes can cause serious environmental damages. So far, maintaining grain yield and quality with more sustainable agronomic practices will be a crucial goal for both human nutrition and environment protection. Improving both GPC and yield could be pursued by considering a candidate gene approach. Thanks to the recent advances in bread and durum wheat genome sequencing and annotation (IWGSC, 2018; Maccaferri et al., 2019), the identification of genes playing a key role in the N uptake from the soil, in the amino acid metabolism, or potentially involved in N transferring to the protein in the grain has become an easier approach. In this study we identified candidate genes for GPC, as well as their precise map position on high-density consensus maps. Also, we detected stable QTLs for GPC by using both genome wide association mapping and candidate gene approaches on a durum wheat collection of 236 genotypes collected in the Mediterranean area, including seven T. turgidum subspecies, such as durum, durum var. ethiopicum, turanicum, polonicum, turgidum, carthlicum, dicoccum and dicoccoides. We found molecular markers associated to stable high protein content QTLs, with no negative correlation with yield. These combined approaches led to a better understanding of the genetic relationships between grain storage proteins and yield-related traits, useful in marker-assisted selection programs.
CANDIDATE GENES AND GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY OF GRAIN PROTEIN CONTENT IN DURUM WHEAT
NIGRO D.;GADALETA A.;MANGINI G.;COLASUONNO P.;MARCOTULI I.;GIANCASPRO A.;GIOVE S. L.;SIMEONE R.;BLANCO A.
2019-01-01
Abstract
Grain protein content (GPC) is one of the most important agronomic traits for durum wheat, responsible both for its nutritional value and technological properties. In the last decades breeders have been focused on improving GPC, process hindered by the complex genetic control of the traits, the strong influence of the environment and by the negative correlation between GPC and grain yield. In order to achieve sufficient yield and good grain quality for the increasing population, massive amounts of mineral fertilizer, especially nitrogenous ones, have been extensively applied. Although N fertilizers are necessary to global crop production, its losses through different biological processes can cause serious environmental damages. So far, maintaining grain yield and quality with more sustainable agronomic practices will be a crucial goal for both human nutrition and environment protection. Improving both GPC and yield could be pursued by considering a candidate gene approach. Thanks to the recent advances in bread and durum wheat genome sequencing and annotation (IWGSC, 2018; Maccaferri et al., 2019), the identification of genes playing a key role in the N uptake from the soil, in the amino acid metabolism, or potentially involved in N transferring to the protein in the grain has become an easier approach. In this study we identified candidate genes for GPC, as well as their precise map position on high-density consensus maps. Also, we detected stable QTLs for GPC by using both genome wide association mapping and candidate gene approaches on a durum wheat collection of 236 genotypes collected in the Mediterranean area, including seven T. turgidum subspecies, such as durum, durum var. ethiopicum, turanicum, polonicum, turgidum, carthlicum, dicoccum and dicoccoides. We found molecular markers associated to stable high protein content QTLs, with no negative correlation with yield. These combined approaches led to a better understanding of the genetic relationships between grain storage proteins and yield-related traits, useful in marker-assisted selection programs.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
