Analysis of Genetic Regions Related to Field Grain Number per Spike From Chinese Wheat Founder Parent Linfen 5064

Wheat founder parents have been important in the development of new wheat cultivars. Understanding the effects of specific genome regions on yield-related traits in founder variety derivatives can enable more efficient use of these genetic resources through molecular breeding. In this study, the genetic regions related to field grain number per spike (GNS) from the founder parent Linfen 5064 were analyzed using a doubled haploid (DH) population developed from a cross between Linfen 5064 and Nongda 3338. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) for five spike-related traits over nine experimental locations/years were identified, namely, total spikelet number per spike (TSS), base sterile spikelet number per spike (BSSS), top sterile spikelet number per spike (TSSS), fertile spikelet number per spike (FSS), and GNS. A total of 13 stable QTL explaining 3.91–19.51% of the phenotypic variation were found. The effect of six of these QTL, Qtss.saw-2B.1, Qtss.saw-2B.2, Qtss.saw-3B, Qfss.saw-2B.2, Qbsss.saw-5A.1, and Qgns.saw-1A, were verified by another DH population (Linfen 5064/Jinmai 47), which showed extreme significance (P < 0.05) in more than three environments. No homologs of reported grain number-related from grass species were found in the physical regions of Qtss.saw-2B.1 and Qtss.saw-3B, that indicating both of them are novel QTL, or possess novel-related genes. The positive alleles of Qtss.saw-2B.2 from Linfen 5064 have the larger effect on TSS (3.30%, 0.62) and have 66.89% in Chinese cultivars under long-term artificial selection. This study revealed three key regions for GNS in Linfen 5064 and provides insights into molecular marker-assisted breeding.

Genetic Contribution of Ningmai 9 Wheat to Its Derivatives Evaluated by Using SNP Markers

Founder parent usually plays an important role in wheat breeding. Ningmai 9 is a soft wheat variety with good performance in yield, quality, and resistance to wheat disease. Therefore it serves as an important commercial variety and founder parent in middle and lower Yangtze River of China. To date, 20 new cultivars have been developed from Ningmai 9 and released to wheat production in the last 10 years. In this study, the 90K iSELECT ILLUMINA chip was used to analyze the genotype of Ningmai 9 and its 17 derivatives. The genetic similarity coefficients between Ningmai 9 and its derivatives were more than 0.7 except for Yangfumai 4. Neighbor-Joining analysis showed that Yangfumai 4 had the largest genetic distance from Ningmai 9 in all derivatives. There was a great difference for the same allele ratio in either derivatives or chromosomes, though the average values of the same allele ratio in genomes A, B, and D were close to each other. The phenotypic difference in Ningmai 9, Ningmai 13, and Yangfumai 4 was consistent with their difference in genetic background by comparing previous reported QTLs. Some hot chromosome regions were found and might be used for marker assisted selection in wheat breeding.

Genetic diversity among a founder parent and widely grown wheat cultivars derived from the same origin based on morphological traits and microsatellite markers

Founder parents have contributed significantly to the improvement of wheat. Beijing 8 has been used as a founder parent in developing many outstanding improved cultivars in China. The widely grown cultivars Beijing 8 and 6 additional derivatives both derived from the cross ‘Bima 4 × Early Premium’ in China, were characterised using seven morphological traits and 537 microsatellite markers. Phenotypic comparisons revealed that Beijing 8 was similar for certain characteristics to the widely grown cultivars Shijiazhuang 54 and Jinan 2, hinting that acceptable performance for yield components may be the basis for Beijing 8 serving as a founder parent. Simple sequence repeat analysis indicated that Bima 4 contributed more genome information to the derivatives than Early Premium. Fifty-nine unique simple sequence repeat alleles, present in Beijing 8 and absent in other cultivars, were observed. Nearly all loci were in close proximity to the positions of known genes conferring important traits. Furthermore, pedigree tracking found that the frequencies of alleles unique to Beijing 8 varied from 0 to 0.96 in its 51 descendants, suggesting that some of them underwent rigorous selection during breeding.