To exploit allelic variation in Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum, the Wild Barley Diversity Collection was subjected to paired-end Illumina sequencing at ∼9X depth and evaluated for several agronomic traits. We discovered 240.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) after alignment to the Morex V3 assembly and 24.4 million short (1-50 bp) insertions and deletions. A genome-wide association study of lemma color identified one marker-trait association (MTA) on chromosome 1H close to HvBlp, the cloned gene controlling black lemma. Four MTAs were identified for seedling stem rust resistance, including two novel loci on chromosomes 1H and 6H and one co-locating to the complex RMRL1-RMRL2 locus on 5H. The whole-genome sequence data described herein will facilitate the identification and utilization of new alleles for barley improvement.
Keywords: Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum; agronomic traits; genome-wide association study; whole genome sequence data.
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Genetics Society of America 2025.