A Genetic Framework for Grain Size and Shape Variation in Wheat
- 1 April 2010
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Plant Cell
- Vol. 22 (4), 1046-1056
- https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.110.074153
Abstract
Grain morphology in wheat (Triticum aestivum) has been selected and manipulated even in very early agrarian societies and remains a major breeding target. We undertook a large-scale quantitative analysis to determine the genetic basis of the phenotypic diversity in wheat grain morphology. A high-throughput method was used to capture grain size and shape variation in multiple mapping populations, elite varieties, and a broad collection of ancestral wheat species. This analysis reveals that grain size and shape are largely independent traits in both primitive wheat and in modern varieties. This phenotypic structure was retained across the mapping populations studied, suggesting that these traits are under the control of a limited number of discrete genetic components. We identified the underlying genes as quantitative trait loci that are distinct for grain size and shape and are largely shared between the different mapping populations. Moreover, our results show a significant reduction of phenotypic variation in grain shape in the modern germplasm pool compared with the ancestral wheat species, probably as a result of a relatively recent bottleneck. Therefore, this study provides the genetic underpinnings of an emerging phenotypic model where wheat domestication has transformed a long thin primitive grain to a wider and shorter modern grain.Keywords
This publication has 37 references indexed in Scilit:
- Evolution of Allometry inAntirrhinumTHE PLANT CELL ONLINE, 2009
- Evolutionary History of GS3, a Gene Conferring Grain Length in RiceGenetics, 2009
- Genomics in cereals: from genome-wide conserved orthologous set (COS) sequences to candidate genes for trait dissectionFunctional & Integrative Genomics, 2009
- QTL analysis of kernel shape and weight using recombinant inbred lines in wheatEuphytica, 2008
- New insights into the history of rice domesticationTrends in Genetics, 2007
- Contrasting Patterns in Crop Domestication and Domestication Rates: Recent Archaeobotanical Insights from the Old WorldAnnals of Botany, 2007
- Molecular phylogeny of the genus Triticum LÖsterreichische botanische Zeitschrift, 2007
- Dissecting gene × environmental effects on wheat yields via QTL and physiological analysisEuphytica, 2006
- A high-density microsatellite consensus map for bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 2004
- The Genetic, Developmental, and Molecular Bases of Fruit Size and Shape Variation in TomatoTHE PLANT CELL ONLINE, 2004