Identification and Validation of a Novel Major Quantitative Trait Locus for Plant Height in Common Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Zhiqiang Wang; Haiyan Hu; Xiaojun Jiang; Yang Tao; Yu Lin; Fangkun Wu; Shuai Hou; Shihang Liu; Caixia Li; Guangdeng Chen; Yaxi Liu

doi:10.3389/fgene.2020.602495

Identification and Validation of a Novel Major Quantitative Trait Locus for Plant Height in Common Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Front Genet. 2020 Oct 22:11:602495. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2020.602495. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Zhiqiang Wang¹, Haiyan Hu², Xiaojun Jiang¹, Yang Tao³, Yu Lin¹, Fangkun Wu¹, Shuai Hou¹, Shihang Liu¹, Caixia Li¹, Guangdeng Chen⁴, Yaxi Liu^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Triticeae Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.
² School of Life Sciences and Technology, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, China.
³ Rice Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.
⁴ College of Resources, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Chengdu, China.

Abstract

Plant height (PH) plays a pivotal role in plant morphological architecture and is associated with yield potential in wheat. For the quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis, a recombinant inbred line population was developed between varieties differing significantly in PH. Two major QTL were identified on chromosomes 4B (QPh.sicau-4B) and 6D (QPh.sicau-6D) in multiple environments, which were then validated in two different backgrounds by using closely linked markers. QPh.sicau-4B explained 10.1-21.3% of the phenotypic variance, and the location corresponded to the dwarfing gene Rht-B1. QPh.sicau-6D might be a novel QTL for PH, explaining 6.6-13.6% of the phenotypic variance and affecting spike length, thousand-kernel weight, and spikelet compactness. Three candidate genes associated with plant growth and development were identified in the physical interval of QPh.sicau-6D. Collectively, we identified a novel stable and major PH QTL, QPh.sicau-6D, which could aid in the development of closely linked markers for marker-assisted breeding and cloning genes underlying this QTL.

Keywords: candidate gene; plant height; quantitative trait locus; validation; wheat.