Functional Gene Assessment of Wheat: Breeding Implication in Ningxia Province
Abstract Background: The overall genetic distribution and divergences for cloned genes among wheat varieties that occurred during the breeding process of the past few decades in Ningxia province of China are poorly understood. Here we report the genetic diversities of 44 important genes underpinning grain yield, quality, adaptation and resistance in 121 Ningxia and 86 introduced wheat cultivars and advanced lines.Results: Population structure indicated characteristics of genetic components of Ningxia wheats including landraces of particular genetic resources, introduced varieties with rich genetic diversities and modern cultivars in different times. Analysis of allele frequencies showed that dwarfing alleles Rht-B1b at Rht-B1 and Rht-D1b at Rht-D1 , 1BL/1RS translocation, Hap-1 at GW2-6B and Hap-H at Sus2-2B are present very frequently in Ningxia modern cultivars and introduced varieties from other regions, but absent in landraces, indicating that the introduced wheat germplasm with numerous beneficial genes are vital for broadening genetic diversities of Ningxia wheat varieties. Large population differentiation occurred at adaptation genes between modern cultivars and well-adapted landraces. Founder parents have excellent allele combinations of important genes with a higher number of favorable alleles compared with modern cultivars. The gene flows manifested that six founder parents greatly contributed to breeding improvement in Ningxia province, in particular Zhou 8425B for yield related genes.Conclusions: These results will greatly benefit for wheat breeding in Ningxia province and other areas with similar ecological environments.